The Book of Genesis

Preface
Chapter One - Creation
Chapter Two - Adam And Eve
Chapter Three - The Fall
Chapter Four - Cain And Abel
Chapter Five - Noah's Family
Chapter Six - Abraham And Sarah's Family
Chapter Seven - Sodom And Gomorra
Chapter Eight - Isaac
Chapter Nine - Jacob And Esau
Chapter Ten - Tamar And Judah
Chapter Eleven - Joseph

The Book of Genesis
Reverend Sun Myung Moon
April 20, 2003

Preface

Preface

The teachings on these pages are excerpted from the sermons of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, whose public ministry has spanned nearly 60 years. Some 43 years of that ministry is represented by the selections contained herein, beginning with the earliest speeches translated Into English. This volume is a companion to the immensely popular The Life and Mission of Jesus Christ - which was also drawn front the huge volume of sermons given by Reverend Moon over the years. Clergy and believers alike were both surprised and moved by the depth of understanding of Jesus' heart revealed in that collection, even as they were challenged by the hold new insights It contained.

Reverend Moon, already 83 years old, continues to lead a worldwide religious movement by his own personal example. That movement is active in 190 nations, and has touched virtually every realm of human endeavor, from media and the arts to ocean enterprises and agriculture; from inter-religious dialogue, humanitarian and peace work to education, industry and technological development, and so much more.

The man who with his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, inspires and leads these efforts remains controversial and enigmatic to many What has compelled so many people of every race and religious background, young and old alike, to support and follow him? How has his life's work continued to expand and grow, despite opposition and persecution?

The answers to these questions can best be found in the profound insights that Reverend Moon has shared throughout his life and ministry The meaning and purpose of life; the origin of evil and suffering; the direction and goal of human history; these and other key teachings have shed fresh light on the meaning of the scriptures.

It is impossible to comprehend the man or his mission and life's work without understanding his deep relationship with God, our Heavenly Father, and his desire to comfort and liberate Gods heart by realizing the world of His original ideal.

This volume weaves together many of these themes, drawn from the stories and characters in the book of Genesis. Jesus said "Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you." (Matthew 7:6)

For those whose minds are already made up, or who seek only to criticize or undermine this teaching and ministry, little will be gained from reading this book. But the sincere reader will be moved by the depth and practicality found in the stories of Genesis, which for many have been mere bedtime tales. The genuine seeker will find in these pages the basis for a renewed and full relationship with God.

Whatever one may think about Reverend Sun Myung Moon, he will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most prolific speakers in history. Over two hundred volumes of his sermons have already been published in Korean with countless more volumes yet to be transcribed. This brief but meaningful book offers a sampling of this prolific and profound spiritual teacher I commend it to you.

Easter Sunday, April 20. 2003

Dr. Chang Shik Yang
Continental Director of North America
Family Federation for World Peace and Unification

Chapter One - Creation

Chapter One - Creation

"And let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the each. And it was so…"
Genesis 1:1.5

In The Beginning

1.1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the fine of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.

God created the world solely for the purpose of true love. We have to bear in our minds at all times that the first reason God created the universe was for the sake of true love itself. We observe that, whether it be animal kingdom or plant kingdom or even the mineral kingdom, everything in creation is in pairs. Everything was created centering on the idea of love.

Blessing and Resurrection
March 31. 1991

Before God created man and the universe, He was all alone, with no one to care for except Himself However, the very Instant that God initiated creation, His full concept of life emerged. God now lives for His counterpart -- not for Himself.

What is creation? Creation means nothing more than the Creator, God, projecting Himself into a substantial form. He made Himself incarnate symbolically in the universe, and He made Himself incarnate directly in man. When the spirit takes form, this is creation. God invested Himself in the creation. God's investment of energy is the creation.

God invested all of Himself in His creation. He did not reserve even one ounce of energy. Creation was His total labor, His total effort of giving all of Himself. When God put His entire heart and soul into the creation of His object, He was investing 100 percent of Himself. Only in this way could He create His second self, the visible God.

God's Hope for Man
October 20, 1973

1:3 And God said, "Let their be light"; and there was light.

4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

The only thing that Almighty God needs is love. In order to attain that love, He requires an object. Thus He created the object of true love. Think about how serious God was when He created man and woman. Was He just entertaining Himself by creating, like enjoying a hobby? No, God was creating people who would become equal partners with Him in true love. Would that urge of God to share His love be less than or stronger than men and women yearning for each other?

It is even stronger. In human society, men have sometimes challenged one another to duels to the death in order to obtain the love of a woman. Think about how much more serious is God's determination.

God is the root of all love; that root is therefore most dedicated and serious. In common Christian understanding, God simply said one day "Let there be light," and snap! It happened while God lay back and rested. Then He said. "Let the oceans arise," and so on, and the rest of creation happened without much ado. But God invested every ounce of His great energy -- every hit of Himself was poured into the act of creating this universe.

Children's' Day 1988 hum the Viewpoint of the Providence
November 8, 1988

Day always follows the night, and even though no one really loves the darkness of night they can still look beyond that darkness to the new day coning. Hope overcomes the darkness.

Were you born in despair and darkness, or were you born with hope, a goal and a purpose? Of course, a new baby would have no idea how and why he was born, but the family's friends and relatives surround that baby with their hope. The baby's father and mother feel hope through their child, and his whole family hopes that some day he will become a good and fulfilled person.

This is why the birth of a child is an event of joy and celebration. If people feel that way about the birth of a new child, then God would certainly feel the same When Adam and Eve were created; they were surrounded by the utmost hope and joy. All the things of creation gave their entire attention to them, including God, looking forward to the day of their accomplishment.

God is infinite in ideal and capacity, and the more broadly God thinks, the more hope He bestows upon His son and daughter. If a parent's vision is big, then certainly his expectation of his child is also big. God's hope in Adam was certainly infinite. Such hope is not fleeting; the expectation grows larger with time.

When God created Adam and Eve, this universe was filled with hope and all things of creation were celebrating in joy, knowing that their master was finally born. Adam and Eve were the focal point of hope for heaven and God and all things of creation, the very personification of hope.

After truly becoming the masters of the creation and fulfilling that goal and expectation as true children of God, what would they do? The day of their accomplishment would be the first time God could really have joy. That would be the first time He could say He was happy When God can announce that He is happy, it will not mark just His happiness but human happiness and the elation of all things of creation. If you had joy would you like to keep it just to yourself or would you like to share it with friends and relatives? Joy wants to he celebrated because joy belongs to all.

Everyone wants to have hope, but does harboring hope in itself automatically engender joy? The significant thing is this -- when you have hope and want to accomplish something, you don't feel joy first, but pain and suffering. Merely attempting to accomplish that hope is not going to bring joy to anyone. If all you had to do was sit down and wait for hope to become a reality, life would be very easy.

The greater the hope or sunshine, the greater are the obstacles or darkness to overcome. You think of sunshine as being bright because you already recognize the darkness. Because of darkness you can appreciate brightness.

All Things Depend on Us
January 8, 1978

1:6 And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."

7 And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning,
a second day.

According to the Genesis account of the creation of the universe, amidst the primordial state of chaos, void and darkness, God created light. God next separated the waters under the firmament from the waters above the firmament. He then divided the land from the ocean; created plants, fish, birds and mammals; and finally made humankind. All of this took a period of six "days." From this account, we can surmise that the process of creating the universe took some period of time represented by six days.

The process of creation recorded in the Bible bears some resemblance to the theory of the origin and formation of the universe as described by modern science. According to modern science, the universe began as expanding plasma. Out of the chaos and void of space, the heavenly bodies formed and gave light.

As the molten earth cooled, volcanic eruptions filled the sky with a firmament of water. The land rose and the water fell as rain, creating the continents and oceans. Next, the lower plants and animals came into being. Then came fish, birds, mammals, and finally humankind, in that order. The age of the earth is calculated to be several billion years. Considering that the account of the creation of the universe recorded in the Bible thousands of years ago nearly coincides with the findings of modern scientific research, we are reassured that this biblical record must be a revelation from God.

The universe did not suddenly spring forth complete, without regard to the flow of time In fact, its origin and development took an enormous length of time. Therefore, the biblical period of six days for the completion of the universe is not to be reckoned by the number of literal sunrises and sunsets. It symbolizes six ordered periods of time in the creation process.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part I, Chapter 1, Section 5

1:9 And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear" And it was so.

10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

It is awesome to see what the earth can do. The earth is the source of thousands of different miracles -- trees, flowers, fruits and all manner of infinite beauty. A seed may have the hidden potential for making red flowers, but a seed alone means nothing; it must he supported by the earth. The earth is the source of wonder and beauty, but the spectacular things which spring from this earth must have some source of Infinite energy where all the wonders and beauty of life originate. That source is certainly God.

Our Family in the Light of the Dispensation
March 6, 1977

As you know, only one third of the surface of the globe is land; two thirds are ocean. Therefore, without knowing the ocean, we can never have dominion over the entire globe. It is just incredible to think that the ocean is not dead, that it is alive and moving; not only moving by itself, but moving in conjunction with the land masses and the solar system's sun and moon. It's so amazing to comprehend the beauties and wonders that are hidden within the ocean. More than anything else in all of God's creation, the ocean is most sensitive to all the movements of the universe and the weather.

Once you understand the sensitivity of the ocean, have dialogue with it, and cope with it, you'll understand the most intricate of God's creations. By doing so, you can understand about land masses in no time. The ocean is not only sensitive, but is also very changeable. Therefore, to know how to cope with this changeable situation provides us the best understanding of ourselves and nature. In order for us to mold our God-centered character, we must know how to deal with the ocean, how to become subject over it, and how to have dominion over God-given creation.

Leaders' Conference
June 17, 1983

1:11 And God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth." And it was so.

12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

When you eat your food, you should think, "I eat for the purpose of consummating love -- unique, absolute, unchanging, and eternal love." Those who eat with that kind of attitude will never have stomach problems or indigestion because everything they eat will cooperate with their body. But if you do not have that attitude, food will have a protest demonstration against you when it gets into your stomach!

Look at the universe from this point of view Look at the trees, the flowers, birds, the ocean and everything from the point of view of the love of God. When you go on a picnic, you can lean against a giant tree and say, "You have been waiting for me, haven't you?" The tree will giggle, "I have been waiting for you to lean against me for so long! I love you!" That tree has wanted to receive unique, absolute, unchanging and eternal love from you. As a representative of that love, you will be loved and appreciated by all the things of nature, including the mountains and the ocean.

The Ideal World of Adam
June 1, 1982

Let There Be Light

1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years,

15 and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so.

We can ask whether God wanted to see a day of sorrow or day of happiness when He created heaven and earth, and the answer obviously is that God wanted to see a day of joy. As you read Genesis you will se that God finished each day's creation by saying it was good. On the final day God created man, and then He said it was very good. God's saying it was good means that it was in a realm beyond the realm of sorrow.

Creation was initiated in joy, and God created in joy. Indeed, God has been looking forward to the day of His fulfillment in joy, eager to see His creation grow in joy and be consummated in joy.

Sorrow and Tears
March 1, 1978

In the Western way of life, you write horizontally from left to right, but in the Orient we write vertically, as though from heaven to earth. The two different directions must meet. Have you ever thought about why you write from left to right instead of right to left? Since the left represents darkness, it is as though you are going from the darkness on the left to the light on the right. God is the origin of light and He represents the upper portion, so the Oriental way of writing from top to bottom represents light coming down to the darkness.

Left represents the West and right represents East where the sun rises. In every way these two different ways of writing symbolize the meeting of light and darkness. Once you reach the East you return to the West, completing a circle. Also, light comes down from God to mankind, and then mankind returns the glory to God. This give and take makes a big circle.

Mainstream of the Dispensation of God
November 19, 1978

1:20 And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens."

21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them. saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply on the earth."

The mineral, plant and animal kingdoms all have the goal of reaching their center, which is the point of human true love. They want to be involved in that. All creation is formed in the pair system for the purpose of the fulfillment of love. Each being yearns to reach a higher and higher level of true love. Since human true love is closer to God, all other creatures want to be part of the human body even willing to be eaten for that purpose.

Among the ocean creatures, the whale is the largest and closest to the human race. They are mammals, giving birth to live babies. The smallest creatures are eaten by larger fish, which in turn are eaten by larger fish, all the way up to the whale which takes everything into its gigantic mouth. Within the animal kingdom, insects and worms are consumed by little birds. Small birds are eaten by larger creatures. When those creatures are eaten by human beings, the cells of the birds are eaten, too.

In this manner, the minuscule organism on the bottom of the sea can ultimately become a part of the cells and body of a man or woman. Those creatures welcome the opportunity to become part of a human cell because they can thereby become recipients of true love. Suppose a tiny creature from the ocean bottom becomes a part of your flesh. It can say proudly, "Look at me. Now I'm a human cell!"

When you look at all the things of creation, including the trees, grasses, flowers, birds and animals, think about the fact that they yearn to come closer to the love of God by way of human beings. You must be the mediator between them and God.

Wake up America!
June 12, 1988

1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.- And it was so.

25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Chapter Two - Adam And Eve

Chapter Two - Adam And Eve

"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
Genesis 1:28

After Our Own Likeness

1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

God created all things for the sake of Adam and Eve. Flowers could be their jewels, leaves could be their spoons, too. Today we are touching the same things of nature that Adam and Eve touched in the Garden of Eden: the same grass, the same flowers, the same trees.

If I asked the flowers whether they saw Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they would reply, "No. I don't go back that far, but at least my great, great, great, great grandfather did, and I am connected to them in that way; there is a giant line linking us all the way back to Adam and Eve." And if I ask the flowers what Adam and Eve said to them, they would reply, "They told us we were so beautiful!" So even this very flower is part of Adam and Eve's legacy to us. The important thing is the heart which created those first flowers in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve. That same unchanging heart has been handed down, throughout the generations, to us today

They had not a moment to be bored; there was so much to look at and explore: birds, rivers, fish, rocks, mountains, fruit, flowers, etc. Suppose they came upon a frog. "What an odd creature a frog is!" When they tried to catch it, the frog immediately jumped into the water. "Boy!" Adam thought, "I should learn some jumping, too."

I want you to understand that God gave Adam and Eve a textbook to learn from, and that textbook was nature and all its creatures. All things were created to be a manual from which Adam and Eve could learn. But today, many people forget the benefits of learning from nature. They don't care about trees and plant life; they get bored to death! They aren't concerned about their neighbors; they just stay in their houses.

We need to fulfill the ideal standard of love. The love of Adam and Eve should have set the standard of love for the entire universe. They were the core, the center.

Watching nature, Adam found out that sometimes the male goes first and the female follows him, and other times the female goes first and the male follows her. But wherever they looked, they found that male and female somehow cooperate. When the male finds good food, he signals the female to join in the meal. Did Adam and Eve invent the signals they used for each other, or did they learn them from other creatures? Each morning, birds call out to one another; the male hard sings and the female responds in harmony Actually, Adam and Eve learned from nature; nature was their best teacher.

The Day of All Things
June 21, 1982

1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Each man represents the entire masculine world; each woman represents the entire feminine world. When they come together, they represent the universe and the total image of God.

Marriage is not just the unity of one man and one woman but of the male character and the female character. In other words, by loving your spouse, you are loving the realm of masculinity or femininity. Thus the woman seeks to understand the man and the man seeks to understand the woman. The unity between the male and female world takes place in marriage. Each couple represents the harmony of the entire universe. That kind of couple is what God has been longing to see here on earth.

A loving elderly couple is beautiful to behold. They can look forward to an even greater fulfillment of their love in the spiritual world. They will be rejuvenated into the state of permanent youth when they are elevated into the next world.

As people live in this world and unite with each other horizontally, they practice becoming the objects to Gods love. Then the day of departure from this world comes, which we call death, but it is not really death. Rather, it is the point of transformation and elevation into the permanent world. That is where the love of God is complete. There you become grafted into the vertical love of God.

The Divine Principle teaches about the dual essentialities of God. When a man and woman representing the dual essentialities unite totally in love, they totally represent the dual image of God. How wonderful and dramatic that is!

When you are totally united in love, even though you grow old, you will be elevated into the realm of the love of God: then that vertical love will come into you, and you will be rejuvenated to the point of teenagers again! That is the point of vertical youth.

This is a beautiful truth. You are born as the princes and princesses of love. You can become kings and queens of love and create the kingdom of love. That is God ideal and that is the true purpose for your being born.

The Historically Highest Career
November 1, 1983

1:28 And God blessed then, and God said to them. 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

These are the three great blessings: to be fruitful (mature and ready to bear fruit), multiply and have dominion over the creation. Had Adam and Eve obeyed this divine mandate and built the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no doubt that God would have left the greatest joy as His sons and daughters rejoiced in the world of His ideal.

How can God's three great blessings be fulfilled?

The key to God's first blessing is the perfection of individual character. An individuals mind and body are discrete projections and object partners of Gods dual characteristics. In order for an individual to perfect his character, he must form a four position foundation within himself whereby his mind and body become one through give and take action with God as their center.

Such individuals become the temples of God, (I Cor. 3:10), achieve complete oneness with Him, (John 14:20), and acquire a divine nature. They experience the heart of God as if it were their own. Hence, they understand His will and live fully attuned to it.

God's second blessing was to be fulfilled by Adam and Eve after they had achieved individual perfection as object partners to God, each manifesting an aspect of God's dual characteristics. In order to construct the four position foundation in their family, Adam and Eve should have joined in loving oneness as husband and wife and raised children. This would have been the fulfillment of the second blessing...

The meaning of God's third blessing is the perfection of a human being's dominion over the natural world... Therefore, when human beings realize Gods third blessing, the entire universe becomes yet another good object partner giving joy to God. Had God's purpose of creation been realized in this way, an ideal world without even a trace of sin would have been established on the earth. We call this world the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. When life in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth comes to a close. people are to enter the spirit world and naturally enjoy eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven there.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 4.1

1:29 And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every one with seed in its fruit: you shall have them for food.

30 And to even beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

Only after the creation of a man and a woman did God call His handiwork very good. He must have been wide awake and totally thrilled that day. He must have shouted with jubilation, loud enough for the whole universe to hear: "It is very good!"

What inspired such a response? Did God say, "very good!" when He looked at Adam's face? Or was it Eve that excited Him so much? No, it was the unity and harmony of Adam and Eve that God called supreme goodness.

The content of harmony and unity is love. So the history of supreme goodness began when love entered the picture. Adam alone was not yet very good. Eve by herself did not meet the standard. But when God brought the two together and the current of love sparked between them, then He pronounced it very good.

Let us imagine two kinds of love scenes. In the first, a man and a woman are deeply in love, gazing at each other, holding one another to close embrace, not even knowing how to separate themselves.

The second scene is like the first, except that someone else enters the picture. God joins the man and the woman, and the three together unite and rejoice in love. The center of goodness is two beings in love. But the center of supreme goodness is God.

The ideal is for a man and a woman of goodness to unite with God in supreme goodness and become totally one. Once you achieve that, you are totally free for the first time in your life because you can relate to everyone and everything.

Original World and Present World
May 29, 1983

The Seventh Day

2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it. God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.

God decided upon the seventh day as the Sabbath and told man to rest. But did you know that God has not been able to rest on a Sabbath day -- even now, after 6,000 years of history?

Jesus emphasized the Word of God and came forth, inheriting the vicissitudes of 2.000 years of providential history, during which the Sabbath was upheld as most important. However, has the day of triumphant glory come when Jesus could vaunt himself to the Father and ask Him to take a rest, together with humankind? No, there has not. Since God and Jesus are not in a situation where they can rest, neither can we.

Before the time of rest comes, there will be a war, before the time of rest comes, there will be suffering and death. When we steel ourselves and pass over this, we will then enable ourselves to taste rest for the first time.

God's Possession and Our Possession
November 9, 1958

2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up -- for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground;

6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground

7 then the Lord God formed part of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Man is made of animal essence, vegetable essence and mineral essence. Suppose you have prepared all the material necessary to build a house. It doesn't take long to build the house itself. To collect the material may take time, but once you have the materials the building itself doesn't take much time.

Likewise, the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms were all created over perhaps millions of years. All the materials were there. Out of those essences, it wouldn't take long to create a man. ...

All the creations of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms have developed through the evolutionary process. According to the theory, there have been sudden changes at certain times to develop to a higher stage. Darwin recognized that change. He said there was motive and purpose for those changes, and some energy or power caused them. He could not see the cause, but he could see the evolutionary result.

This, of course, does not include man's creation. Evolutionary change is possible within a certain formula or plant or animal, but there is no evolutionary development from one family to another family, for instance, from rose to chrysanthemum. But within the family of chrysanthemums, change is possible.

Question: "Were Adam and Eve, then, an actual physical creation as it says in the Bible; or did their physical bodies evolve and their spirits evolve?"

Answer: Adam and Eve were produced by exactly the same process as we produce a child. By strong love and energy of father and mother, a child is conceived and grows, first within the womb, then outside of it. In the same way, God created Adam and Eve. By His love and energy, a little thing was created which grew and grew and became Adam.

It is all an evolutionary process... Through the power of God, Adam and Eve were created as a baby is created by humans today. But man was a special creation.

On the whole, the process of creation was evolutionary. It took a long time to have plants, animals and minerals on earth. There may have been animals very like man. It is probably these skeletons which have been discovered.

Master Speaks on Creation
March-April 1965

2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

According to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and the survival of the fittest, only the strong survive. The weak will he demolished and only strong species will continue. Purely from an external point of view, evolution describes this upward movement of life we were talking about.

Thus there is nothing really wrong with the theory of evolution on the external level. But where does the theory of evolution come to a deadlock? Darwin didn't consider the aspect of love.

God's Providential Course and the Course of Human Life
January 11, 1987

When you lie down on the grass without any blanket, you can tell yourself, "I am lying on God's blanket, in the special bedroom, adorned with His handiwork." Isn't God's green carpet more precious than any man-made blanket? Which would you prefer to sleep on?

Once the ideal world of unification becomes a reality, nobody will want to live in high-rise apartments; they will want to go back to nature, resting on God's green carpet, climbing the mountains, exploring the rivers, etc.

Animals, far more than people, recognize the original value of all things. Animals live in nature as their home. When you think this way, nature will become very intimate with you; it will become closer than your own jacket or clothes.

If you become absolutely quiet and listen to nature's music, you can hear singing going on even right now. This is truly the most beautiful, original music. God's living masterpieces, the birds, are singing.

Can anybody create that kind of music? If you sold the entire United States of America, you could not raise enough money to buy such music. Can you listen to nature's music with an angry face? You automatically find yourself relaxing and responding with joy.

When you roam the valleys, climb the mountains, and enjoy the tiny flowers, plants and animals, will God accuse you of wasting time and tell you to get back to work? No, I am sure He would be happy to see you appreciate His handiwork and say, "Bravo! I am proud of you."

Each tree has its own history. One tree might tell you, "My ancestor was in the Garden of Eden, and one night Adam and Eve climbed up in its branches and slept there. We must become men and women who can value God's living museum better than any man made museum. If you express such appreciation, wont heaven be your ultimate destiny?

You should wake up each morning with this heart of gratitude. Look around at nature and open up your spiritual eyes; you will see all nature bowing down to you, greeting you and pleading with you to caress it. It will invite you, just like a little puppy begging its master to pet it. Trees, flowers and all plants long to be touched by their true masters.

People who can appreciate this true museum as a gift from God are close to perfection. Such people are entitled to receive God's love and Gods bounty. Can you feel what I am talking about?

Some people might wonder why the omnipotent and almighty God created poisonous snakes. They think the world could do without them. Furthermore, rose bushes have lots of thorns, and when you go to cut the blossoms, you may get pricked by the thorns. Thus you wonder why God created roses with thorns.

Actually, thorns are necessary to educate people. If the roses had no protection, people would try to ruin them, and some greedy person would pick them all. But since the bush has thorns, only appreciative hands can take the flowers.

Roses have sweet fragrance as well as thorns; the two come together. Whenever there is something precious, God creates some security devices to protect it! God thought about everything.

Then what about the snakes? Poisonous snakes love sunny spots, just the kind of place where everybody would like to go for a nap. The poisonous snake says, "Well, I was here first; when you come here to take a nap, you have to be careful. You should be very courteous and humble when you ask me to relinquish the spot!"

Too much indolence is not good. When people find a spot with good water, they should be careful because there might be a snake nearby. So is the snake God's mistake, or is it acceptable as part of God's creation?

From another point of view, it has been discovered that the venom of some snakes can be used as a curative. When venom enters your bloodstream, it endangers you and may kill you; but taken through the digestive system it can become a powerful healing agent! In the Orient, snake poison is a very precious medicine. People catch poisonous snakes, extract the venom, and put it in a kind of liquor; it can be preserved for several years and used as a strong curative drink.

So all creation has a purpose and reason for existence. The overall reason is that God created the world for men and women to enjoy. Look around in all four directions. Look at the trees, plants, river, sun. For who was the sun created? For you and me.

What about the moon? God created it for you and me. When you say "me," don't just think of yourself, but think about God who created the sun and moon for all things of creation; think about God who created the mountains, rivers and plants for Adam and Eve.

That "me." is the center of all creation. All the gifts of the universe are given to "me" You are the recipient of all this bounty, but what a pity if the recipient doesn't care about accepting it, doesn't even look at it, and spends all his time preoccupied with trivial affairs! You should open your arms wide like a receiver. Practice it. You are about to welcome the entire universe between your arms. Say, "Thank you. Father." Doesn't it feel good? Just to think about it makes you feel good, but when it truly happens to you, how much more joy you will feel!

Therefore, I really love nature. The birds are my dear, good friends. I have pursued birds for many, many miles. Sometimes when a very friendly bird which has been singing to you every day flies away, you feel even sadder than when your parents leave, because your parents don't sing for you every morning like the bird does!

Look at a butterfly visiting one flower after another. Try feeling like a butterfly and join it in its tour. One time I got so caught up in that feeling that I became exhausted. Then, lying down on a flower bed, I fell asleep and went immediately to the spirit world.

In my dream, I was flying like a butterfly or honeybee, and all the other butterflies and honeybees were following me like a flock of birds. It was an incredible scene. Looking at us, God smiled and laughed with great joy and exclaimed, "My son, you really understand what I have created!"

The Day of All Things
June 21, 1982

2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the golden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis says there were two trees in the Garden of Eden. One was the tree of life, the other one was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What are the two trees? They symbolize the true man and the true woman that God has been seeking.

The Tribal Messiah
Chapter 2, Section 1

What was the hope of Adam during the time he was immature and growing toward perfection? He must have hoped to become a man who would realize God's ideal of creation by growing to perfection without falling. The tree of life in fact symbolizes a man who has fully realized the ideal of creation. Perfected Adam was to be this ideal man. The tree of life thus symbolizes perfected Adam.

God did not create Adam to be alone. He also created Eve to be Adam's spouse. Just as there was a tree in the Garden of Eden that symbolized a perfected man, there also should have been a tree that represented a woman who fully realized the ideal of creation. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, standing beside the tree of life, was this tree which, by fulfilling its good purpose, represents the ideal woman, perfected Eve.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part I, Chapter 2, Section 1.1

2:10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became font rivers.

11 the name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.

13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush.

14 And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

You probably know a lot about the original garden of creation, the Garden of Eden. Moreover, you also probably know well that before the Fall, Adam and Eve related with God freely, consulting with each other.

However, we also know that because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden of hope, which the Creator God wanted to achieve through Adam, could not be realized at all. Consequently, the original Garden of Eden that we must pursue now has nothing to do with the Fall, and that world is both our world of hope and the world of hope that God wanted and has sought since the creation of the world...

What is the purpose of the unity that God has been working toward by raising us? It is none other than building the Garden of Eden again centering on you. We need to feel this. We need to understand that God has been fighting against Satan for 6,000 years, longing not for the Garden of Eden in which only He can rejoice, but for the Garden of Eden where He can obtain joy through each of us.

Because we have lost this garden of hope due to the Fall, we are at the fateful road of having to yearn for that garden of hope and go in search of it again. This path is the fateful road of the heavenly principles and of humanity, which must be traveled... That garden is the place where both God and man can rejoice, and all things can also be glad together. So, that garden was the garden of joy.

God created Adam and Eve as the masters of all things. Adam and Eve were to have dominion over all things in God's ideal garden of creation in His place. At the same time, they could enjoy God's glory.

They were the center of glory, the center of victory and the locus of happiness, able to be in harmony before heaven and earth... That is Gods hope, humankind's hope, the hope of the people, and our hope today.

The Ideal Kingdom of Heaven, Our Hope
February 22, 1959

2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

Suppose (this place) were the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve were created was right here on the grounds. What would they enjoy? Very likely the trees; they would touch them, run around them, look at their blossoms, etc.

The trees would give Adam and Eve a lot of things to talk about For example. Adam, being a boy would probably claim all the big trees for himself and Eve would reply, "Well, you can have them, but all the cute little trees are mine."

But perhaps Adam became greedy and wanted all the trees for himself! Then Eve might claim all the grasses, plants and flowers. They might talk among themselves, arguing and joking about the things of nature.

What if one day Adam got a little nasty and told Eve, "All the trees -- pine trees and oak trees, big trees and small trees -- are mine, how can you enjoy the grass when it is so dirty?" And Eve might reply. "I have something even beyond your trees: all the birds flying over the treetops are mine!"

What I am trying to describe is that in order to enjoy life, people need some surroundings, the beauty of nature. Adam, being a little greedy and thinking on a large scale, would claim all the big things and love them, while Eve would be attracted to the tiny things, finding than so cute and fascinating.

She might say to Adam, "You don't have any pretty little things, do you?" And Adam would reply, "Where are your pretty little things? Show them to me." Then Eve would point and say: "Look at this ant, this little black dot," and Adam would have to agree that nothing like that ant existed among his big things and admit that the ant is a very wonderful creature. So the ant would bring dignity to Eve.

Then one morning Adam might abruptly announce, "Among all the birds, the mighty eagle a mine." Eve might reply, "Your eagle may be large, strong and swift, but I take the swallow, it is also fast, but more than that, it is beautiful."

This bird is a symbol of femininity and beauty. It is a unique bird; it seeks fellowship with people, arriving each spring with a beautiful song and building its nest in people's houses- This bird's appearance brightens the entire house; it's almost like being visited by a beauty queen!

Adam would marvel at the power, dignity and masculinity of the eagle, but Eve would point out that even though it looks so vigilant and powerful, it takes the qualities of love, beauty, peace and femininity. She wouldn't like the eagle as much.

So the behavior of the two children, Adam and Eve, would be different. Adam would be very masculine and impetuous, always running around doing wild things, while Eve would be very feminine, charming, kind and tender. While Adam would be out racing with the deer, Eve would lie down against a big rock and play with some little flowers!

So far, I have been describing how all things were created for men and women to enjoy. Through their give and take with nature, Adam and Eve must have found much stimulation for their thoughts, conversation and, ultimately, joy. These examples can help you visualize the purpose for the creation of all things.

The Day of All Things
June 21, 1982

2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree
of the garden;

17 but of the tie of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.

The Bible states that the Fall originated when the first human ancestors in the Garden of Eden ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is one of many important passages that the Bible expresses in parables and symbols. It does not refer to a literal fruit. As Jesus says in Matthew 15-11, "What goes into a man's mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that is that makes him 'unclean' "

The commandment given in Genesis 2:17, "You mist not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die," was a strong warning about Eve's love. Eve had to protect her sexual purity until she achieved maturity with a God-centered character and entered into a blessed marriage with God's permission. Had she succeeded, she would have multiplied God's eternal love, life and lineage...

I repeat: the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents Eve's reproductive organ, and God gave the commandment to protect her chastity. When He created us, God invested His entire heart and soul in our reproductive organs. He created them as the palace of true love, the palace of true life, and the palace of true lineage.

The story places the fruit in the context of good and evil in order to tell us that if Eve were to have a relationship with a king, she would give birth to a prince, and if she were to have a relationship with a Mafioso, she would give birth to a villain. The quality of the harvest depends upon the seed that is planted. It was called the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because it could manifest good or evil.

Gal Is Our King and True Parent
May 8.2001

2:19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air; and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature that was its name.

20 The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air; and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him.

In Genesis it is written that Adam named the things God had created. Actually, Adam was the instrument God was speaking through. In other words, God was naming every creature through Adam. God dwelled within Adam and in that way exercised lordship over all creation.

So far human beings have not known the true relationship between God and men. To repeat, there were two reasons that God created man: first, as the fulfillment and manifestation of His love, and second, as the visible forms of God.

This is a most amazing truth. Through perfected Adam and Eve as the nucleus of the universe. God wanted to expand His Kingdom here on earth. No matter how big man's world might become, God would still be the center of it. Clearly the culture of mankind should have been in one sphere, which we call the Adamic cultural sphere, truly God's own culture here on earth...

The whole purpose of our physical lives here on earth is to make ourselves dwelling places of God so that when we pass into the spirit world, our minds can become spirit bodies in which God can dwell. That is the preparation we are going through here on earth.

What a supreme position we have been placed in! We are all supposed to be the bodies of God. As the Bible says, we are made as the temples or dwelling places of God. If Adam and Eve had initiated perfection here on earth, becoming one with God, their children would have been the children of God. Children always resemble their father and mother. When we are born as children of God, then we would certainly resemble God and be in His image and likeness.

Now you can see realistically why we call God our Father: we are His children. We are now looking for God, but if Adam and Eve had been perfected, seeing them would have been seeing God.

Adam and Eve's position would have been God's position because they would have been the bodies of God. In spirit world God should have been dwelling within Adam and Eve. God indeed is the Creator and center of the universe, and if God had made His dwelling in Adam and Eve, then their position would have been the center of the universe as well, both physically arid spiritually.

The Dignity of God and Man
April 1, 1977

Humankind is the visible form of God, manifesting the masculine and feminine characteristics of God. Together, men and women are the total visible form of God. We read in Genesis that God told Adam to name the animals of creation. Adam had little understanding of the creation, but because God was dwelling with him he was able to name the animals.

When does the Kingdom of God start to exist? Heaven can exist only when God and man are together. God and humankind together create the Kingdom of God, and without humankind there is no heaven.

Happy Unification Church Members
May 22. 1977

One man and one woman are the substantial object of the invisible God, His son and His daughter. Man represents God's masculine nature and woman represents God's feminine nature. God -- the harmonized body of the dual characteristics -- is divided into two entities formed separately, and these separate bodies are to be united again to resemble God.

This is the principle of creation. The unity of one man and one woman represents the original unity of Gods plus nature and minus nature. This is the harmonized body resembling God. Therefore, two human beings, husband and wife, symbolize the whole of God.

Man is the Incarnation of a True Father and woman is the incarnation of a True Mother. They are also representatives of God. Therefore, when they become one in love, they are embracing the universe. They become the central point of the entire cosmos.

A husband represents all men, so he is father and older brother as well as husband: a wife represents all women, so she is mother and older sister as well as wife. That's why husband and wife should naturally respect each other.

Blessing and Ideal Family
Chapter 7, Part 1

2:21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh;

22 and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man."

24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they
become one flesh.

The Bible says God stole one rib out of man's side and molded it into a woman. What does it actually mean that God pulled a rib out of man? It means that God molded woman by His own hand, using man as the example, staking her slightly different so they would complement each other.

For example, because God gave man a beard, He made woman with smooth skin. Even their voices are different, with men's voices capable of loud volume, while women's are lighter and sort of fragile.

If a choir could only sing in one unison tone it could not make good music, but men's and women's voices together create the harmony and beauty of music, Since Adam was masculine and strong, God made Eve as beautiful as the flowers and very feminine. Imagine if God had made both men and women muscular, heavy and broad-shouldered. God knew the needs of each and made them to complement each other.

God's Day
January 1, 1978

When we talk about man and woman, love immediately comes to mind. But think about Adam and Eve, were they created in an instant? Did they suddenly experience love? Can love he savored in a moment?

According to the Principle, everything passes through a growth period in order to reach perfection. Did God create Adam and Eve as adults or as infants? [Infants] As babies, were they able to shout out, "I am in love," or did they merely coo and smile?

Well, nobody can be sure, because we weren't then in the Garden of Eden! But it is logical that God created them as babies, in the formation stage, with the destiny to grow into perfection.

So there were two babies: Adam and Eve. Imagine them growing day by day and learning to walk. However, even Adam and Eve could not experience total joy by themselves; they needed support, an appropriate environment, things to touch, look at and enjoy.

Did Adam and Eve suddenly discover that love is to be expressed by kissing and then start kissing each other, or was their discovery stimulated by the things of nature! What do you think? Did they learn it or invent it? I say that they observed the animals, that nature was their teacher.

Watching nature, Adam found out that sometimes the male goes first and the female follows him, and other times the female goes first and the male follows her. But wherever they looked, they found that male and female somehow cooperate.

When the male finds good food, he signals the female to join in the meal. Did Adam and Eve invent the signals they used for each other, or did they learn them from other creatures? Each morning, birds call out to one another; the male bird sings and the female responds in harmony.

Actually, Adam and Eve leaned from nature; nature was their best teacher.

The Day of All Things
June 21, 1982

How do we come into being in this world? The father and mother become one through their love, and bring together their lives and ideals. Their love precedes our birth. Love is the force which unites. Husband and wife become one in love.

This means the husband's love, life, and ideal become the wife's, and the wife's love, life, and ideal become the husband's. This is the way that two live as one, and two become "one flesh." Upon this foundation of oneness in love, a new life can be generated.

When a child is born, that child is the manifestation of his parents' love, life and ideal. When you look at your own child, you are actually seeing another you. You are looking at the fruit of your love, the fruit of your life, and the fruit of your ideal. You are looking at your second self -- another visible form of yourself.

God's Skill and the World
October 20, 1973

Adam and Eve are in the eternal objective love position to God. He created them that way. God used absolute love to create Adam and Eve. Adam is in the subject partner position and Eve is the object partner. They are convex and concave. What is the function of this? To look at each other? To fit each other? When do they love each other? How can we love each other? Through true love.

Man and woman alone cannot be perfect. Each is only half-perfect. Man and woman exist not just for their own generation. They are to connect to the next generation through true love activity That is why man's love and woman's love are not two different things; they are connected to one true love, and centering on that, unity comes.

So man and woman meet each other centered on God and create one blood lineage. Both sides connect to the other. Mrs. Han here has ten thousand generations connected to the cells of her body. These ancestors are related bodies. My ancestors are connected to my body, so I connect the past and future. Blood lineage never disappears, never dies. It connects to thousands of generations of ancestors.

On the Lunar New Year
January 24, 2001

Chapter Three - The Fall

Chapter Three - The Fall

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons..
Genesis 3:7

Original Sin

3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?"

2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;

3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

In the Bible we read that a serpent tempted Eve to commit sin. (Gen. 3:4-5) What does the serpent symbolize? Let us investigate the true identity of the serpent, based on the Genesis account.

The serpent described in the Bible was able to converse with people. It caused the Fall of humans, who are spiritual beings. Furthermore, the serpent knew the will of God, which strictly forbade human beings to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is compelling evidence that the being which the serpent symbolizes was a spiritual being. It is written: This ancient serpent is the very serpent which tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Having lived in heaven before being thrown down, this Devil or Satan must be a spiritual being. In fact, ever since the time of the human Fall, Satan has been continually turning the hearts of people toward evil. Since Satan is a spiritual being, the serpent which symbolizes him must also represent a spiritual being. These strands of biblical evidence confirm that the serpent that tempted Eve was not an animal but a symbol for a spiritual being.

The question arises whether the spiritual being symbolized by the serpent existed before the creation of the universe or was created as a part of the universe. If this being existed before the creation of the universe and had a purpose contrary to that of God, then the conflict between good and evil in the universe would he unavoidable and perpetual.

God's providence of restoration, then, would be in vain Moreover, monotheism, which holds that everything in the universe was created by one God, would be unfounded We are left with the conclusion that the spiritual being represented by the serpent was originally created with a good purpose, but later fell and became Satan.

What kind of spiritual being in Gods creation could have conversed with people, understood the will of God, and lived in heaven? What kind of being, even after it had fallen and become degraded to an evil being, could transcend time and space to dominate the human soul?

There are no beings endowed with such characteristics other than angels. The verse "God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom" (II Pet. 2:4) supports the conclusion that the serpent, which tempted human beings and sinned, is an angel.

A serpent has a forked tongue. It depicts someone who utters contradictory things with one tongue and lives a two-faced life with one heart. A serpent twists its body around its prey before devouring it, a metaphor for someone who ensnares others for his own benefit. For these reasons the Bible likened the angel who tempted human beings to a serpent.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Chapter 2.1.2

The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent. who is called the Devil and Satan. the deceiver of the whole world -- he was thrown down to the earth.
Rev. 12:9

Why do men and women have to wait and discipline themselves instead of just jumping into love whenever they feel like it? We know that the creation is bounded by a certain period of growth. Therefore, a child's love cannot be consummated as soon as he is born; he must grow into the fullest realization of love.

Some accident occurred during the period of growth, an accident of love. We have an explanation of the whole process of that accident of love. We know that love is the supreme power, and therefore the consequences of the accident have been so grave. God gave the man and woman a commandment during their growth period, specifying that they should not do certain things.

In unlocking the problems of the universe, I realized that the greatest discovery was the truth about the Fall of man. If the forbidden fruit was a literal apple or pear which God placed right in the middle of the Garden of Eden, then God's plan must have been imperfect. This was not the case.

Rather, I have brought a revolutionary declaration to the world that the forbidden "fruit" was a symbol of love between man and woman. From love can spring either good or evil fruit: therefore, the tree was described as one of the knowledge of good and evil.

Love is the judgment point for mankind. What is the love that God can relate with? God warned Adam and Eve to grow into the full sensation of love -- for Adam to discover all of a sudden that Eve was not just a sister but a woman, and for Eve to discover that Adam was not just a brother but a man. In the sensation or love, Adam and Eve's mind and body could work together and experience the electricity of touching each other.

Once Adam and Eve realized the explosion of their love, the entire universe would have been like one beautiful, fragrant flower garden. They would see everything echoing their love. When that electrifying sensation came to God, then He would be pulled to them and His entire creation would have been activated with love. God was supposed to be the matchmaker, bringing Adam and Eve together in the explosion of love.

In the ensuing explosion of love, all three of them would be consumed! The important thing is that there he no foreign element there, that men and women be pure when they consummate their first love Then they become the core of the universe.

This core would be so powerful that everything else would be pulled into it, even God. Children would be multiplied from that core, and it would continue to grow and grow From a family the core would grow into a tribe, then a nation and a world. How wonderful a world it is when the universe echoes the love of the core. That is the Kingdom of Heaven on earth -- that is the true world.

At this time in history Reverend Moon is declaring to the world that the Fall of man was an accident of love. This is the greatest declaration because it hits the core of evil. It is also a most logical and correct diagnosis, making possible the correct prescription for treatment.

Analyzing an event from 6,000 years ago was not easy, so it had to be done step by step. The love core was not achieved, and the opposite, evil result came into being, bringing division and perverted love.

This resulted in not only denial of God, but denial of parents, of men and women. Human civilization has sunk below that of animals. In this world there has been no ideal because no individual has had the correct diagnosis and could not find the proper prescription to achieve a cure.

Parents, Children and the World Centering on Oneself
June 5, 1983

3:4 But the serpent said to the woman. "You will not die..."

God created human beings to grow old and return to dust; physical death was allotted to human beings regardless of whether or not they fell. Adam died at the biblical age of 930 years and his flesh returned to dust; but this was not the death caused by the Fall.

According to the Principle of Creation, the flesh is the clothing of the spirit. Just as one discards worn-out clothes, the flesh is to be discarded when it has grown old and weak. Only the unclothed spirit self then enters the spirit world and lives there eternally.

Nothing material can live forever. Human beings are no exception, our bodies cannot live eternally. If human beings were to live on earth forever in the flesh, why did God create the spirit world as our final destination?

The spirit world was not created after the Fall as a place for fallen spirits to abide. Rather, it is part of the original creation, created as the place where individuals who fulfill the purpose of creation will enjoy eternal life as spirits after their life on earth has come to an end.

Most people are attached to their earthly life. They regret its passing because, due to the Fall, they are ignorant of the fact that after they discard their clothes of flesh, they are meant to live forever in the beautiful and eternal spirit world.

The transition from physical life to life in the spirit world may he compared to the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. If the caterpillar had self-awareness, it might feel the same attachment to its limited existence climbing about the leaves of a plant as people do to their earthly life. It, too, would probably be reluctant to end its existence as a caterpillar, unaware that it is destined to enter a new phase of life as a butterfly; when It will enjoy fragrant flowers and symbol of love between man and woman. From love can spring either good or evil fruit; therefore, the tree was described as one of the knowledge of good and evil.

Love is the judgment point for mankind. What is the love that God can relate with? God wanted Adam and Eve to grow into the full sensation of love -- for Adam to discover all of a sudden that Eve was not just a sister but a woman, and for Eve to discovery that Adam was not just a brother but a man. In the sensation of love, Adam and Eve's mind and body could work together and experience the electricity of touching each other.

Once Adam and Eve realized the explosion of their love, the entire universe would have been like one beautiful, fragrant flower garden. They would feel everything echoing their love.

When that electrifying sensation came to God, then He would be pulled to them and His entire creation would have been activated with love. God was supposed to be the matchmaker, bringing Adam and Eve together m the explosion of love.

In the ensuing explosion of love, all three of them would be consumed! The important thing is that there is no foreign element there, that men and women be pure when they consummate their first love. Then they become the core of the universe.

This core would be so powerful that everything else would be pulled into it, even God. Children would be multiplied from that core, and it would continue to grow and grow. From a family the core would grow into a tribe, then a nation and a world. How wonderful a world it is when the universe echoes the love of the core. That is the Kingdom of Heaven on earth -- that is the true world.

At this time in history Reverend Moon is declaring to the world that the Fall of man was an accident of love. This is the greatest declaration because it hits the core of evil. It is also a most logical and correct diagnosis, making possible the correct prescription for treatment.

Analyzing an event from 6,000 years ago was not easy, so it had to he done step by step. The love core was not achieved, and the opposite, evil result came into being, bringing division and perverted love. This resulted in not only denial sweet nectar to its heart's content.

If there had been no hell, earthly people would he able to relate with spirits just as naturally as they relate among themselves. They would know that death is not the final departure from their loved ones on earth. If people knew what a beautiful and happy world they will enter after they attain perfection on earth and die a natural death, they would look forward eagerly to the day they enter that world.

Since the Fall did not cause death in the sense of the expiration of physical life, we can surmise that what it brought was the other type of death. Let us examine this further. God told Adam and Eve that on the day they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die.

Since God so warned them, it must be that when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they did in fact die. Yet Adam and Eve after the Fall continued their earthly life and bore children, who multiplied to form today's corrupt human society.

We can conclude that the death caused by the Fall does not mean the end of physical life, but rather the descent from the good dominion of God into the evil dominion of Satan.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part I, Chapter 5, Section 1

3:5 knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened. and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

6 So when the woman saw that the free was good for food. and that it was a delight to the eves. and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

What is the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that God told the original ancestors, Adam and Eve, not to eat? It is not the real fruit of a tree. It is a way of expressing the husband and wife love relationship that the first ancestors were to have in the future.

Due to the temptation of a third being, while still in an imperfect state, the first man and woman entered into an immoral sexual relationship. Actually; in the Garden of Eden, the third party besides Adam and Eve was the Archangel. In the Bible it is revealed that Lucifer was the Archangel who tempted Eve and committed an immoral sexual sin. This was the Fall of man, the original sin which planted the root of sin in the world.

Man and woman committed the sexual sin before their Father God, the Lord and Master of heaven and earth. The first ancestors had children out of this immoral love. The world of evil was realized. In other words, they married centered on Satan and by planting false love, false life and a false lineage, they became ancestors of evil.

As human society expanded from the individual, family, tribe, race, and nation to the world level, due to this immoral relationship between man and woman the root of the evil blood lineage was established everywhere, at all times, and this world became hell on earth.

It became a false world filled with sin, war and fear. The fallen ancestors, Adam and Eve, should have established the position of True Parents as the eternal good ancestors of humanity; but they fell to become false parents leaving a blood lineage of evil.

This is the first cause of all the tragedy and misery of humankind. What could be more tragic or cause greater indignation than becoming the descendants of false parents and all humankind losing their True Parents? And how great must be the suffering and sorrow of God, the Father of humanity, whose purpose of creation -- to establish the true ancestors of humankind and to multiply people of goodness -- was stolen by the blood lineage of sin through the immoral fall of the first human ancestors.

Just as the cause of a disease must he discovered and treated in order to save a person suffering from it, in order to liberate human society from the suffering of such sin and misery, the fundamental cause of this sin and misery must be revealed and corrected.

The fundamental cause is the Fall of the human ancestors, the original sin, Accordingly, unless the cause of the disease called original sin is eliminated, we cannot pull up the root of misery and sin from the world.

No matter how many great men, heroes, scholars, politicians or philosophers appear and try to straighten out the world through the reform of the laws and systems or through the education of moral principles, unless the original sin and the content of the Fall is clarified it will be impossible. All remedies will prove useless. That is because the original root of sin and misery is still alive, and it will continue to sprout buds.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part I, Chapter 2, Section 2

3:6 ...and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

The Fall of Adam and Eve was immoral conduct against the ideal of the True Love of God. The fact that Adam and Eve needed to obey the Commandment shows that they fell in a stage of Imperfection, that is to say, during their period of growth, The Archangel, who is symbolized by a serpent, tempted Eve to cat of the fruit of good and evil, and she fell spiritually.

She later tempted Adam (who was also too immature to eat of the fruit), and they then fell physically The only possible sin that could have been fatal in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were in communication with God and living in joy, was the sin of illicit love.

View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation
April 16, 1996

When the angel, created as God's servant, beheld Eve, the daughter of God, it was only natural that she looked beautiful to his eyes. Moreover, when Lucifer saw that Eve was responding to his temptation, the angel felt the stimulation of her love to be deliciously enticing.

At this point, Lucifer was seducing Eve with the mind to have her, regardless of the consequences. Lucifer, who left his proper position due to his excessive desire, and Eve, who wanted to open her eyes and become like God before the time was ripe, formed a common base and began give and take action. The power of the unprincipled love generated by their give and take led them to consummate an illicit sexual relationship on the spiritual plane.

3:7 When the eves of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons

All beings are created based on the principle that when they become one in love, they exchange elements with each other. Accordingly, when Eve became one with Lucifer through love, she received certain elements from him.

First, she received feelings of dread arising from the pangs of a guilty conscience, stemming from her violation of the purpose of creation.

Second, she received from Lucifer the wisdom which enabled her to discern that her originally intended spouse was to be Adam, not the angel. Eve was in the position to receive wisdom from the Archangel because she was immature and her wisdom was not as seasoned as that of the Archangel, who was already in a state of angelic maturity.

Perfect Adam and Eve were supposed to have become an eternal husband and wife in God's love, But Eve, who in her immaturity had engaged in the illicit relationship with the Archangel, joined with Adam as husband and wife. Thus, Adam fell when he, too, was still immature. This untimely conjugal relationship in satanic love between Adam and Eve constituted the physical fall.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part I, Chapter 2, Section 2

It is human nature to try to hide our defects. A child caught stealing a cookie by his mother will instinctively hide his hands or cover his mouth. In the same way, If Adam and Eve had taken a piece of fruit and put it into their mouths, then they would have hidden their hands or covered their mouths when God called them.

The fact that they hid their lower parts instead demonstrates that their crime was committed through the lower parts of their bodies.

God Is Our King and True Parent
May 8, 2001

3:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9 But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

10 And he said. "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked and I hid myself"

11 He said. "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

Fathom the painful heart of God who called, "Adam, Adam!" after Adam and Eve fell. God was in the position to abandon Adam and Eve, who had abandoned Him, the Creator; but God looked for Adam, calling out. "Adam, Adam!" We must realize that God was not just calling for the two people, Adam and Eve. He was calling out to the history of humankind.

Until today, people on earth have been ignorant of the internal heart of God who called out to Adam after the creation. The voice that called out to Adam, at that time, became words of sorrow that represent the 6.000-year history of grief today.

God called Adam with the sorrowful heart that represented all the grief inside the fallen realm after the creation of the world. Although 6000 years of long history have passed since Adam, God is connecting the event of that time to the present era and is calling out to us, the second Adam and Eve, in the same manner.

We should realize the distressed heart of God, who was calling for Adam and Eve after the Fall, this was the heart of the Father who felt indescribably heartbroken when He saw that Adam had entered the forbidden place and had fallen.

When we grab onto that heart and mourn with the same heart, God can continue again in His dispensation of restoration toward people on the earth. Never forget that God has been calling out to you by setting up countless prophets and saints throughout the course of history. The voice calling out to fallen Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is still heard today.

Heaven Is Calling Us
January 5, 1958

3:12 The man said. "the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate...

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done? The woman
said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate."

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and yon shall bruise his heel."

16 To the woman he said, "1 will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

The person who complains or tries to make excuses will never go over the mountain into heaven. After the Fall, Adam and Eve blamed each other in explaining to God what happened, and to this world everyone tries to escape taking responsibility for their mistakes. But that is not the tradition of heaven.

You should not become persons of excuse or complaint, even though you are in a position to justifiably complain. God pushes you into positions where you want to complain and you could gripe about a thousand things a day, but it is your greatness to go over the difficulty with gratitude and not complain like everyone else in the world.

The Desire of All Things
June 17, 1977

Even after the Fall of man, Adam added many different excuses: "Oh God, I fell because of Eve." Eve's excuse was: "God, Adam whom you created, didn't fulfill his responsibility so we failed." They didn't admit their own mistake, nobody did.

Usually we have a tendency to think: "Oh well, I did what I could and I was right, but because of somebody else or because of some circumstances, the mistake took place."

Leaders' Meeting
December 22, 1994

God cursed the fallen angel, saying, "Upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life."(Gen. 3:14) "Upon your belly you shall go" means that the angel would become a miserable being, unable to function properly or to perform its original service. To "eat dust" means that ever since the angel was thrown down from heaven. (Isa, 14:12); he has been deprived of life elements from God. Instead, he has had to subsist on evil elements gleaned from the sinful world. (Rev. 12:9)

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part I, Chapter 2, Section 1

3:17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commended you, 'Thou shall not eat of it.' cursed is the ground because of on in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you and you shall eat the plants of the field."

3:22 Then the Lord God said. "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever.

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

This world we are living in is the world of result, but what did it result from? The human Fall. Thus it is far removed from the original world. This fallen world is certainly not the world in which we long to live; it is the culmination of thousands of generations of fallen ancestors. Looking back upon history, we find that our ancestry is not what we would have desired.

This is not the world that God planned, but rather the fallen world. Each generation has multiplied the results of the Fall, thousands upon thousands of fallen generations have brought the world to its present state. Each segment of history was terrible. When you think deeply about fallen history, can't you feel how shockingly horrible it has been`...

God has suffered far more than any human being; otherwise, He would not be qualified to teach suffering people. Parents can educate their children and the children listen because parents have endured more. The teacher who has experienced and suffered a lot is a better-qualified instructor. If a student has endured more suffering than the teacher, the teacher does not know how to guide him.

The world of creation exists for human beings, and it is pleading with us to be used for a good purpose. Even the fallen world will say, "Please apply the law of restitution and use me through it." Restitution is necessary everywhere.

We must understand clearly what we are living for. The direction in which we are headed is the path of restitution for the sake of the world. This is the path that leads directly to the center of the whole. This is our daily direction.

Wherever we go -- whether a family, a company, a nation or the world -- we must show a good example. Our task is to overcome the payment due on all those levels. Do you understand?

What happened because of the Fall? By falling Adam and Eve were separated from God and cut off from the angelic world. They lost everything. They were expelled from the Garden, which means they lost the standard of true human beings, the true family standard, and the true national standard. Who was responsible for that? It wasn't God, nor was it the angelic world, nor the world of creation. It was the responsibility of humankind.

Therefore, we are destined to follow the course of the providence of restoration. A person cannot go this path alone. He or she needs the help of God and the spirit world Therefore. God and the spirit world have been mobilized to help fallen man on earth complete the history of re-creation

People in the Old Testament Age made offerings to God using things from the creation. Such offerings united God, the sprit world and the creation into a substantial foundation. Through these successful offerings, the foundation to restore a substantial Adam was begun.

This foundation of offering was supposed to be established worldwide. To do that, a particular nation, Israel, was elected. It was God's hope that Israel would become the most important nation in the world, so that when the foundation was completed there, it would represent the entire world. On that kind of foundation, perfected Adam and Eve would be able to stand.

A person who cannot live up to the absoluteness of God's law cannot cross the absolute barrier which God erected after the Fall. When Adam and Eve united with Satan and died spiritually, God set cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the way so no one could re-enter the Garden of Eden.

When we give the Blessing of marriage, we are aiming to harvest the fruit in this springtime of the providence, being admitted past the cherubim with the flaming sword to consummate the goal. When kingship and queenship is sealed in you, then even if you march to the gates of hell, the door will open. There will be no place you cannot conquer and nowhere you cannot go. Everywhere you go you shall bring springtime.

Spring Season of the Providence
April 1, 1979

Chapter Four - Cain And Abel

Chapter Four - Cain And Abel

"The Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.'"
Genesis 4:6

4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord."

2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.

3 In the course of time Cain brought to the land an offering of the fruit of the ground,

4 and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,

5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell

The history of restoration follows a reversal course. Therefore, Abel, as the younger brother, has to gain the position of elder brother and Cain has to accept the younger brother's position. This exchange needed to take place between Cain and Abel. According to the formula for restoration, Cain should come down to the younger brother: position and Abel should come up to the elder brother's position. Unless this reversal occurs, there is no way for restoration to take place.

In human history, there has always been a Cain-Abel struggle, manifesting itself through all manner of battles and wars. In Adam's family, parents were lost and children fought to the death. It is almost unimaginable that the first family which God created ended in bloodshed. For humankind to be restored, there needs to he a reversal of order from the individual level to the worldwide level.

Let Us Be Proud of and Love True Parents
January 1, 1996

Both Cain and Abel were the fruits of Eve's Fall; hence. their relative positions were determined according to its course. Eve's Fall was consummated through two different illicit love relationships.

The first was the spiritual Fall through her relationship with the Archangel. The second was the physical Fall through her relationship with Adam. Certainly, the two relationships were both fallen acts. Yet between the two, the second act of love was more in line with the Principle and more forgivable than the first.

Eve's first fallen act was motivated by her excessive desire to enjoy what it was not yet time for her to enjoy and have her eyes opened, like God. (Gen. 3:5) This desire led her to consummate a relationship of unprincipled sexual love with the Archangel.

In comparison, Eve's second fallen act was motivated by her heartfelt longing to return to God's bosom after she realized that her first fallen relationship had been illicit. This desire led her to consummate a relationship with Adam, her intended spouse according to the Principle, even though God did not yet permit it

God discriminated between Cain and Abel based on Eve's two illicit acts of love and accordingly placed Cain and Abel in two opposing positions. In other words, since Cain was the first fruit of Eve's love, signifying Eve's first fallen act of love with the Archangel, he was chosen to represent evil. Therefore, he was in a position to relate with Satan.

Since Abel was the second fruit of Eve's love, signifying Eve's second fallen act of love with Adam, he was chosen to represent goodness. Therefore he was in a position to relate with God.

Why did God accept Abel's offering but reject Cain's? God received Abel's sacrifice because he stood in a proper relationship with God and made the offering in a manner acceptable to Him. (Heb. 11:4)

In this way, Abel successfully made a foundation of faith in Adam's family. He serves as an example that any fallen person can make an offering acceptable to God provided he satisfies the necessary conditions.

God did not reject Cain's sacrifice because He hated him_ Rather, because Cain stood in a position to relate with Satan, which gave Satan rights over the sacrifice, God could not accept Cain's sacrifice unless he first made some condition justifying its acceptance.

The example of Cain shows that in order for a person who has a connection with Satan to return to God's side, he must make a requisite condition of restitution. What condition of restitution should Cain have made? It was to remove the fallen nature.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II. Section II

4:6 The Lord said to Cain. "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?

7 If you do well. will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well. sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."

8 Cain said to Abel his brother, "Let us go ou1 to the field." And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

10 The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

After Cain and Abel made their offerings, Cain found out that God only received Abel's offering. Cain then despised Abel and beat him to death. You have to understand, however, that from the time they had made the preparations to make the offerings, Cain already had hatred toward Abel. It was not because he momentarily felt hatred when God did not receive his offering. Rather, even before that took place, Cain hated Abel and wanted to beat him to death.

Let Us Understand the True Path and Discern the Side Path
November I, 1957

If Cain had even the slightest desire to go through Abel, who represented Heaven's position, then God would have taken Cain's offering. Even if there might be a difference in time, He wanted to relate with them from the same position.

Let Us Understand the True Path and Discern the Side Path
November 1, 1957

Who is Abel? It is Abel who can restore God's objects of love to God by going through the way of hardships. Abel must subjugate Cain by the heart of love. On the horizontal level, Abel stands in the position of God.

Just as God loves fallen man, Abel must have the heart of love toward Cain and restore him at the risk of his own life. The way of Abel is the way of sacrifice. The history of Abel became a history of shedding blood. This is the fundamental teaching of the Bible.

God's Will and the World: Why We Have to Go through hardships
September 11, 1972

4:25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth. for she said. "God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel. for Cain slew him."

26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name o the Lord.

The fighting between Cain and Abel made God miserable and more than any other time His heart was broken when Cain killed Abel. God will be most pleased when the brothers make up with one another and come to Him together. According to this principle it is essential for Abel to restore his brother. Unless you restore Cain, God will not accept you.

The Completion Period for the Restoration
November 12, 1978

In front of God there is only one Adam and one Eve. According to the Principle He cannot create other ones. Therefore, He has to restore them back to the original state. Even if you offer your love to your enemy's children more than your own children, don't you think the concept of the enemy's children will remain with you?

Will you be able to completely eradicate the concept that they were your enemy's children or will you constantly struggle with this feeling? Which way? You will remember from time to time, will you not? That is why it has taken tens of thousands of years.

God's heart is a million times purer than our own hearts. Once that scar was engraved in God; heart because of the Fall of man, it couldn't he erased so easily. Do you follow? Abel's blood has been shed in order to save Cain Throughout history Abel, the person on God's side, has sacrificed himself, begging God to love Cain more than He loves him, Abel

Leadership Conference
January 2, 1996

Had Cain made his offering through Abel, an orderly path could have been established from God to Adam and to the archangel, and restoration could have been accomplished. Because Cain killed Abel, however, heaven established Seth and extended the providence to his descendants.

Textbook for World Peace
Chapter 3

All the tragedies of history have their beginning in the failure of one man, Adam. One man brought misery to mankind, so in restoration one God-sent man will restore, in his lifetime, the entanglements of human history. Before that one man comes to complete history; religion is prepared to pave the way so that his job can he accomplished.

After the Fall of Adam, the Cain and Abel struggle began, representing the division of Adam, so the Cain and Abel lines of history must come together to prepare the way for the coming of Adam, that is the purpose of Abel-type history -- to piece together one Adam.

Total Self-Reevaluation
September 14, 1980

After the Fall, God divided the children into Cain and Abel. The purpose of the providence was for these two sons to become one and then to become one with Adam and restore Gods position. Cain and Abel, as you know, did not fulfill this.

Throughout history, the position of the younger son has been one of persecution and opposition. The position of the first son, which was Satan's position, was always persecuted by the world.

Originally the position of the first son was to be the one to directly communicate with God, but this was lost through the Fall. Because of the Fall, Satan achieved the position of the father of mankind.

The Unification of My Country
January 1, 1990

Cain has always been opposed to someone who is close to God. He is the person who struck down Abel. It has always been Abel's position to be closer to God. The fruits of that relationship have been in existence since the Fall and have affected mankind throughout history.

Even your own life is part of that legacy. If you examine your daily life, there are times when you are Abel-like and times when you are Cain-like, between morning and evening of any given day, or even within one hour the dynamics of the Cain-Abel relationship are working. All directions -- back and front, right and left, up and down -- have something to do with the Cain and Abel relationship.

One action is closer to God and another is in opposition In God. When you speak just one word, it could he examined as to whether or not it is from the position of Cain or the position of Abel. You can examine yourself and the words you speak according to this standard.

If you are speaking today in a better way than yesterday, then you are standing today as Abel in relationship to yesterday. If you are speaking worse today than yesterday, then today you are standing in the position of Cain. In this kind of situation God has been trying to guide people to be more Abel-like and to come closer to Him.

At the same time, Satan has been trying to pull people away from God When we grow closer to God, we come closer to the Abel position and we find ourselves feeling happy,

But when we become drawn in Cain's direction by the satanic realm, we feel sadness. Because of this dynamic of the Cain and Abel relation-ship, there has been a constant fluctuation of joy and sadness since the beginning of human history.

Gods Will and the World
May 7, 1972

Chapter Five - Noah's Family

Chapter Five - Noah's Family

"And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His hear."
Genesis 6:6

The Sorrowful Path

5:1-32 This is the book of the generations of Adam… The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years; and he had other sons and daughters. When Seth had lived a hundred and five years, he became the father of Enosh... When Enosh had lived ninety yeas, he became the father of Kenan...When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Ma-hal'alel.... When Ma-hal'alel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jared... When Jared had lived a hundred and sixty-two years he became the father of Enoch... When Enoch had lived sixty five yeas, he became the father of Methuselah... All the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him. When Methuselah had lived a hundred and eighty-seven yeas, he became the father of Lamech. When Lamech had lived a hundred and eighty-two years, he became the father of a son, and called his name. Noah, saying, "Out of the ground which the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands." ... After Noah was five hundred years old, Noah became the father of Shem. Ham, and Japheth.

I do not necessarily think that Adam lived 6.000 years ago. The time between Adam and Abraham is considered as the pre-historic age. At that time, according to the Bible, people lived 800 or 900 years.

We don't know if they had the same kind of calendar we have today Nine hundred years in their time might not be 900 years by our way of measuring time. As it says in the Bible, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Often things revealed by God are not literally true, but symbolic.

We say it is ten generations from Adam to Noah, ten generations from Noah to Abraham. and so on. The ten generations are not necessarily literal. God may choose one person out of ten million to accomplish a certain mission. He will count that person as one generation.

For example, Adam was the first generation; Jesus was the second generation; and the Lord of the Second Advent is the third generation. We should count the generations from Adam to Noah and Noah to Abraham just as we count Adam, Jesus and the Second Messiah... However, the existence of Noah and of Adam as individual human beings is factual, pray about this matter and try to get answers yourself.

The Master Speaks of Creation
March-April, 1965

God raised Noah through the ten generations after Adam. When Noah could no longer serve the will because of the mistake of Ham, God prolonged His will ten more generations and came upon Abraham. However, because Abraham made another mistake while making the offering, it was extended two more generations.

The twelve sons of Jacob symbolized the time from Adam to Noah. Jacob had to raise twelve children who possessed this kind of significance.

The Meaning of the Trinity
January 3, 1958

What kind of sorrow then does God possess? This is a very important question for us. It was derived from the result that, since the Fall of Adam and Eve, God could not establish the original world of creation, which was to be established through them. We should experience the grief of God.

Due to the Fall of Adam and Eve, the ideal of creation through which they were to enjoy an eternal blessing in the garden of love centered on God's love and ideas, was frustrated. God thus came to labor continuously until the present day, throughout thousands of years of history. To fulfill the ideal of creation that Adam and Eve could not fulfill due to the Fall, God has been experiencing all kinds of grief while fighting Satan. We should empathize with such the heart of God

Since Adam, what did all the prophets and sages, from Noah, Abraham, Moses to Jesus say to humans on the earth? It was only to convey God's grief to the ignorant people. Due to the human Fall, God came to carry grief. He sent many saints and sages, but He endured double grief when lie had to watch them fighting Satan also.

Many saints and sages walked a sorrowful path to witness to the ignorant people, none of whom welcomed the will of God, or felt His sorrowful heart. The more they empathized with the sorrow of God, the more they felt responsible on behalf of God, and they had to fight Satan with the sorrowful heart of God.

The saints and sages were to be recognized for their value on behalf of the eternal will, but on the contrary, God had to feel a double grief, watching them being ridiculed and rejected by the ignorant people and chased from here and there. God was already sorrowful enough not to have been able to fulfill the ideal of creation, but it was an indescribable grief for Him to watch many saints and sages who were sent to awaken the ignorant earthly people and fight Satan. We should not forget that God has carried a double grief.

Let Us Become the Ones that Can Understand God's Sorrow
October 25, 1957

6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuant

6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.

At the time of Noah, God was overwhelmed with indescribable sorrow. The sorrow toward humans was so overwhelming that He could never forget it for even one moment. Overcoming it, to fully manifest His sorrows before all humankind and the creation, He set up Noah.

Why then did God establish Noah in the position that people at that time could not understand? It was to establish one person, Noah, as a representative of humans, and put him in an incomprehensible environment, to experience the sorrow and pain of Heaven, caused by humans for 1,600 years.

Noah tolerated people who opposed and ridiculed him in faithlessness for 120 years. Even 120 years later, when a warning was given that the earth was to be judged, he accomplished his duty to God in faith.

Because he was a righteous person, he was deeply concerned and saddened for the corrupt society in which he was living. Because Noah was concerned with and grieved for the people of that time, God called him.

Let Us Become the Ones that Can Understand God's Sorrow
October 25. 1957

6:13 And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled wish violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth,

14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and over it inside and out with pitch."

In Noah's time, no one could believe that Noah had received a command front God -- nor did anyone accept his mission of revealing the coming flood judgment. Can you imagine how Noah appeared to the people of his day?

For 120 years he went up and down, up and down that mountain working on his boat. Would anyone among the ladies in the audience like to think of herself in the position of the wife of Noah? I don't think you would be a very happy wife.

Noah's wife must have packed his lunch basket every day, using only a little food. Noah was so busy with the ark he could not find time to provide for his family. Within only a few months the family squabbles must have begun, but it was not just for twelve months or twelve years that Noah's wife had to sustain her situation, but for 120 years.

Why, then, did God ask of Noah such an incomprehensible mission? Why does God have to work that way? There is a reason. It is because of evil.

God cannot dwell together with evil. The direction of God is 180 degrees contrary to the direction of evil. God abhors evil! God cannot accept the things that the evil world accepts. God does not want anything to do with the evil world, or with whatever is tainted by evil.

We are all in the image of God and can find traits similar to His in our human nature. Consider if you have an enemy toward whom you have strong feelings; you don't want to so much as look at that person. Likewise, Gal will have nothing to do with die evil, satanic world. Therefore, in dealing with us, He chooses ways often incomprehensible to man.

God also tests the faith of mans He cannot do this by asking just ordinary things of people. We must be willing to comply with God's extraordinary instructions. We must display absolute faith. This is not an easy task. People thought Noah was a crazy man for building the ark. Nobody knew he occupied the central position in God's view.

God's Hope for America
October 21, 1973

The ark was built with three decks, symbolizing the cosmos which had been created through the three stages of the growing period. The eight members of Noah's family who entered the ark represented Adam's family who, having been invaded by Satan, had to be restored through restitution.

Thus, the ark symbolized the cosmos, Noah, its master, symbolized God; the members of his family symbolized humanity; and the animals brought into the ark symbolized the entire natural world.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 3, Section 1.2

God chose Noah to declare the word. Noah's announcement was, "The flood is corning. The salvation is the ark." The people could have saved themselves by listening to Noah's words.

However, the people treated Noah as if he were a crazy man, and they perished -- because they opposed the word of God, According to the Bible, only the eight people of Noah's immediate family became passengers on the ark. Only these eight believed, and only these eight were saved.

The Future of Christianity
October 28, 1973

Noah maintained his unyielding determination even when Heaven dragged him around for 120 years. This is what made him greater than Adam. We know that Adam fell when he had not yet reached adulthood.

Because Adam betrayed God, to make it possible for God to believe in us again, we must exert ourselves more than Adam. Even If we are to suffer through toils hundreds of times more harsh, we must be able to break through them.

Noah was not affected when his own self, his family; his relatives, his people and anything in the world put up opposition. Fixed on his determination, he clung to God and fought on for 120 years. This became the condition for him to be elevated before the humanity of that time, representing God.

The most important thing for Noah, who was inside the realm of the grace of God and escaped the flood judgment, was that he needed someone who could inherit his heart. which possessed the heart of God. However, even Noah himself did not know this.

Let Us Not Weaken Our Determination For Heaven 
February 23, 1958

7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.

12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and North's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,

14 they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort.

When reflecting on God's providence of restoration, God established one person, Noah, alter having endured a long 1,600 years since the Fall of Adam and Eve. God chose Noah and saved him and his family. Further. He attempted to put Noah in the position of a chief priest, as a representative of humanity.

This was God's will. If Noah had understood the endeavor of God, who had worked for 1,600 years to establish him, and if the eight members of his family had felt the heart of God, there would not have been the grief caused by the mistake of Ham.

Some people think that salvation is completed by being free from personal lamentations and pain, but it is not true. We should cleanse our own individual sins while also cleansing the universal sin.

Alter pulling out many nails of lamentation from deep in the heart of God, we should be able to say "Father, please rest in peace! God, who has been leading the dispensation of restoration until the present, please be relieved from the heart-breaking grief. Hallelujah! Amen." God has been waiting for such a victor to come to earth.

When Noah's family was saved from the flood judgment, they should have led a life of gratitude, but they continued their habitual life. We who came forth after being called by the heavenly principle can also easily commit the same mistake.

Thus, we should not be the kind of person who will go back to our habitual lives. If Noah had faced God, who had saved him and his family, with a constantly renewed heart, had felt God's heart of wishing for the arrival of a day when all humanity possessed the same kind of heart, and had established a life of absolute faith before God, he would not have committed the mistake of the second Fall

Let Us Be Strong and Bold and Restore' the Lost Land
June 23, 1951

8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided...

6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

7 and sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.

8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground;

9 but the dove found no place to set her foot and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put forth his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him.

In the Bible we read that at the end of 40 days of rain, Noah sent forth from the ark a raven and a dove. (Gen. 8:6-7) Let us examine what future providential situations this foreshadowed...

By building the ark and passing through the forty-day flood judgment. Noah fulfilled a condition of restitution for the restoration of the cosmos. The flood corresponds to the period of chaos before the creation of the universe when "the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters." (Gen. 1:2) Accordingly, the works which God performed around the ark at the end of the 40-day flood symbolized the entire course of history following God's creation of heaven and earth.

What was foreshadowed when Noah sent forth the raven, which circled about looking for a place to land until the waters subsided? It signified that Satan would be looking for a condition through which he could invade Noah's family just as the Archangel vied for Eve's love soon alter the creation of human beings, and just as Satan couched at the door looking for an opportunity to invade the offerings of Cain and Abel. (Gen. 4:7)

What was foreshadowed when Noah sent forth the dove three times? Although it is written in the Bible that Noah sent out the dove to see if the water had subsided, that was not its only purpose. Certainly Noah could have looked out the opening from which he set forth the dove to examine the situation for himself.

The sending forth of the dove had a deeper significance connected with the mysterious will of God. Seven days after God proclaimed the flood judgment through Noah, the flood began. (Gen. 7:10)

Forty days later, the dove was first sent out. It flew about but then returned to the ark because it found no place to land, and Noah took it back inside. (Gen. 8:9) The dove, when it was sent out the first time represented the first Adam.

Seven days later. Noah sent forth the dove a second time. Still the water had not yet dried, and again the dove returned. This time it carried in its mouth an olive leaf, indicating that there would be a place for it to and the next time. (Gen. 8:10-11)

The dove, when it was sent out the second time symbolized Jesus, the second Adam whose coming would be God's second attempt to realize the perfect incarnation of the divine ideal on the earth.

These verses foreshadowed that if the chosen people were to disbelieve in Jesus at his coming, then he would have "nowhere to lay his head" (Luke 9:58) and thus would not be able to realize God's complete will on the earth. In that situation, Jesus would have to go to the cross and return to God's bosom, leaving behind the promise of the Second Advent.

After another seven days had passed, Noah sent out the dove for the third time. This time the dove did not return to the ark, for the ground was dry. (Gen. 8:12) The dove, when it was sent out the third time, symbolized Christ at the Second Advent, who is to come as the third Adam.

This foreshadowed that when Christ comes again, he will surely be able to realize God's ideal of creation, which will never again be withdrawn from the earth. When the dove did not return Noah finally disembarked from the ark and walked upon the earth, which had been purged of sin and made new.

This foreshadowed that when the ideal of creation is realized on the earth through the work of the third Adam, the new Jerusalem will descend from Heaven and the dwelling of God will be with men. (Rev. 21.1-3)

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter I. Section 2.1.2

8:10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf: so. Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.

12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove: and she did not return to him any more.

Noah's Sons

9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth....

9 "Behold. I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you,

10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with an, as many as came out of the ark.

11 I establish on covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

12 And God said. "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:

13 I set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

In the providence of restoration through Noah's family, Noah was the central figure to restore the foundation of faith. God called Noah ten generations or 1.600 biblical years after Adam for the purpose of fulfilling the will which He had intended to realize through Adam.

Accordingly God bestowed His blessings upon Noah, "be fruitful and multiply," (Gen. 9:7) much as earlier He had bestowed the three great blessings upon Adam. (Gen. 1:28) In this sense, Noah was the second ancestor of humanity.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter I, Section 2.1.1

9:18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the Ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

19 These three were the sons of Noah: and from these the whole earth was peopled.

20 Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard:

21 and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father; and told his two brothers outside.

Noah, who had severed his ties to Satan through the 40-day flood judgment, was supposed to secure the position of Adam right after the creation of the universe. God expected that the members of Noah's family would react to Noah's nakedness without any feelings of shame and without any thought to conceal his body.

Had Ham been one in heart with Noah, regarding him whit the same heart and from the same standpoint as God, he would have looked upon his father's nakedness without any sense of shame. He thus would have fulfilled the condition of restitution to restore in Noah's family the state of Adam and Eve's innocence before the Fall.

We can thus understand that when Noah's sons felt ashamed of their father's nakedness and covered his body, it was tantamount to acknowledging that they, like Adam's family after the Fall had formed a shameful bond of kinship with Satan and were thus unworthy to come before God.

Satan, like the raven hovering over the water, was looking for a condition to invade Noah's family He attacked the family by taking Noah's sons as his partners when they in effect acknowledged that they were of his lineage.

When Ham felt ashamed of his father's nakedness and acted to cover it up, he made a condition for Satan to enter; hence his feeling and act constituted a sin. Consequently, Ham could not restore through restitution the position of Abel from which to make the substantial offering.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part 11, Chapter I, Section 2.2

We can say that the failure of every providential mission resulted from failing to think deeply. If Noah had persevered in his vigilance a little longer, instead of becoming intoxicated and lying naked, his mission would not have been invaded. We can definitely say his mission would have succeeded if he had continued his devotion to God and thought a little more.

Perseverance and Contemplation
August 27, 1.978

If Cain had thought more deeply before killing his brother, then history would have been different. If Adam and Eve had examined their motivation one more time before they fell, then history would have been different. Noah was careless in lying naked on his bed. If he had thought about it once more, for his children's sake, he might not have committed that blunder.

Ham was humiliated at seeing his father, and he felt his dignity was hurt, "Me" was the center of his thoughts and actions and, based on that motivation, he covered his sleeping father. That action brought tragedy to the dispensation.

Covering his father's body was not wrong, but Ham should have had unconditional respect for his father as a man of God. If he had approached his father without shame and covered his father's body with a loving heart, then that scene would have been beautiful to God

It was essential that Ham honor the fact that his father was accepted in the sight of God. Noah had persevered through 120 years of ridicule and persecution in order to build the ark, and because of his faith, Noah's family was the only group of people alive upon the face of the earth after the flood. Ham should have been humble after witnessing this and should have looked at his father from the public point of view.

Let Us Think Once More
June 12, 1977

9:23 When Shem and Japeth took a garment. laid it upon their shoulders, and walked backward and coveted the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him,

25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers."

There was no son who could sympathize with the heart of Noah, who was deeply concerned with the heavenly principles, even while suffering through the 120 years of heartbreaking and distressful toil. No one could say to Noah, "Father, please give me any kind of order and I will do it."

If the eight members of Noah's family had understood Noah's determination to give all of his heart for God, then they should have stood in the position in which they could absolutely obey Noah, whether they lived or died.

They should have obeyed to the extent that they would be willing to die if their father were to die. They should have liked things that their father liked. If they had done that, even if another insignificant bad condition was set, if they could have solidified their hearts centered on God, then they would not have had any problem.

Ham should have listened to the words of his father. Noah. No matter what his brothers told him, if they were not in accord with the will of his father, he should not have listened to them. Because he did not listen to the words that he should have listened to and instead listened to words that he should have ignored. Noah's 120 years of exertion were undermined.

"Let Us Not Weaken Our Determination Toward Heaven"
February 23, 1958

The Global Family

If human beings had not fallen, we would have formed one global family, which may be likened to a body whose members are all inter-linked with each other with God as their head. Then all would have shared a common language: there never would have risen a profusion of tongues unintelligible to one another.

The reason various languages arose and prevented free communication between peoples is that, once their vertical relationship with God was severed at the Fall, all horizontal relationships between people were also cut off. Humanity, then splintered, dispersed to different geographical locations, and formed isolated communities.

There is also a biblical account giving spiritual insight into the confusion of languages. This is the story of the Tower of Babel. Noah's descendants had shared a common language. One day, the descendants of Noah's second son Ham, who had sinned against God, built the Tower of Babel to exalt themselves even above God, thus furthering the will of Satan.

When the descendants of Shem and Japheth, who stood on Gods side, helped with the construction, God brought such confusion to their languages that they' could no longer communicate with each other to further the will of Satan.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II. Chapter 6

Chapter Six - Abraham And Sarah's Family

Chapter Six - Abraham And Sarah's Family

No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations...
Genesis 17:5

The Idol-Maker's Son

12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse: and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."

The eyes of the world could not understand the way of God. In this manner, with such implausible instructions, God could test the faith of the man he had chosen as His champion. This is what happened in Noah's day

And at the time of Abraham it was no different. God called Abraham, the son of an idol-maker, and commanded him, "Leave your home at once!" God does not allow for any compromise. God takes a position where evil can he totally denied. In no other way can good begin.

God has said He will start a new history, in which no element of evil will remain. God demands a complete response from man. Those who follow God's direction must begin from absolute denial of the evil world. That is why Jesus Christ taught: "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matt. 10:39) He also said, "A man's foes will be those of his own household." (Matt. 10:36)

You may ask what kind of message is this? This is God's way, to choose His own people and put them in a position where they will be rejected by evil. Otherwise His champion can do no good for God. From the point of view of God's standard, then, modern Christians have been having a very easy time. This is very strange, because there is no easy way indicated in Christian teaching. I wonder how many Christians are really serious about following the path of God. God's demands are absolute. He allows no middle ground.

The Future of Christianity
October 28, 1973

12:4 So Abram went as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years ol d when he departed from Haran.

5 And Abram took Sar'ai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions which they had gathered, and the persons that they had gotten in Haran and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,

6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said. "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appealed to him.

God called Abraham and drove him the opposite way, toward tribulation. You have to understand that God ordered Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and drove him into tribulations that his relatives, family and people dared not attempt.

We have to understand that Abraham transcended himself and deeply felt the existence of Heaven, which was guiding his tribe and descendants to the ideal world. Abraham knew that ordinary daily life was not something of which the people could he proud, When God's command was given to him in this state of mind, he abandoned all that he owned.

It was not easy for him to do that. Abraham set out on a truly miserable journey toward the land of Harran, abandoning all that he had -- his family, which had given him great joy, and all his belongings.

However, even though he was a pitiful wanderer, his footsteps were full of confidence because he believed that a glorious and proud day would come, even if he could not be proud of his situation at that time.

Abraham was determined that no matter what kind of ordeals and difficulties he might face, he would overcome them hundreds and thousands of times. Because the heart of Abraham and the heart of God, who was desperately looking for a reciprocal object, came together in unity. God was able to proudly give Abraham His blessings, which included the garden of the absolute ideal for which God longed. This is how Abraham was put in the blessed position of being the ancestor of faith before Heaven.

Let Us Understand God. Who Wanted to Be Proud
February 8, 1959

12:10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there for the famine was severe in the land.

11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sar'ai his wife, "I know that you are a woman beautiful to behold;

12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say. This is his wife; then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account...

14 When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

Since Noah was the second human ancestor, for Abraham to restore the position of Noah, he also had to assume Adam's position, For this reason, he was required to make a symbolic condition of restitution to restore the position of Adam's family before he could make the actual symbolic offering.

In this regard the Bible gives an account of a trip Abraham made to Egypt because of a famine. (Gen. 12:10-20) When they entered Egypt, Abraham instructed his wife Sarah to pose as his sister because he was afraid that the Pharaoh might desire her.

Abraham feared that the Pharaoh would have him killed if he found out that he was Sarah's husband. Indeed, at the Pharaoh's command, Abraham handed Sarah over to him while she posed as his sister. Thereupon, God chastised the Pharaoh, and Abraham took back his wife along with his nephew Lot and the abundant wealth which the Pharaoh had given him, and they left Egypt.

Without knowing it, Abraham walked this providential course to make a symbolic payment of restitution to restore the position of Adam's family. When the Archangel took Eve -- capturing under his dominion all of Eve's descendants and the natural world -- Adam and Eve were still brother and sister.

For Abraham to make the condition of restitution to restore this, he was deprived of Sarah, who was playing the role of his sister, by the Pharaoh, who represented Satan. He then had to take her back from the Pharaoh as his wife, together with Lot as the representative of all humanity, and wealth symbolizing the natural world... Once he had fulfilled this resiitutional condition, Abraham was deemed ready to make the symbolic offering.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1. Section 3.1

Living The Conviction

15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. "Fear not, Abram. I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."

2 But Abram said, "O Lord God, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless; and the heir of my house is Elie'zer of Damascus?"

3 And Abram said, "Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir."

4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir:

5 And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be."

6 And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.

When Abraham became a wanderer, he was in miserable shape, traveling aimlessly with his family in the wilderness. Yet under those circumstances God gave him this blessing: "Number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your descendants be."

Only a crazy person or a man of adventure could accept that blessing and uphold his faith. Abraham suffered much almost losing his wile and all his possessions and relatives to the Pharaoh in Egypt. However, he never, never gave up his faith in the blessings of God.

Nothing could change his conviction, and he fully lived that conviction, ultimately receiving his promised blessing from God. Anyone who just sits and waits for God to take care of everything will never encounter the blessing of God.

There are three types of religious people in this world. One type are the men of faith who are sitting idle. The second are the men of faith who feel that they should at least set some condition by doing something to help God. The third type are the men of faith who want to translate their conviction 100 percent into action by offering up their lives.

Which ones do you think God will side with? Do you just want to set some condition of restitution to jump over the mountain, or do you really want to pay the full amount and release yourself completely? If you say, "I want to pay the full amount," then your attitude becomes absolute; that is most bold.

The Road of Religion and the Will of God
April 24. 1977

15:7 And he said to him. "I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chalde'ans, to give yon this land to possess.

8 But he said, "O Lord God, how am Ito know that I shall possess it?"

9 He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon...

10 And he brought him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.

11 And when birds of prey came down upon the carcasses. Abram drove them away.

History reveals that blood must always be shed before an offering can be made to God. Therefore, whatever was sacrificed was killed and cut in half, to ensure that one part representing goodness was separated from the bad so that God was free to claim it. You already know that in Abraham's offering a heifer was cut in half, a ram and a goat were cut in half and birds were to be cut in half. Treasures as well were laid on the altar.

In the ideal of creation no bloodshed should have been necessary, but because the Fall introduced Satan's blood, the shedding of blood is necessary in order to restore the original position. This is why we see in the course of history that whenever an offering was given it was made by killing things.

By instructing man to shed the blood of animals God could begin to restore man without shedding man's blood. That offering served as a condition, but most important of all it was to separate the offering from satanic domination, the whole purpose of restoration.

If the animal that is shedding blood is not obedient and goes against its master, then the offering will not be valid. Many animals could protest, but some animals like the heifer and the lamb are very obedient and calm.

The lamb is the symbol of obedience and the dove is the symbol of peace, so those animals were selected. Who kills these animals for the offering? The chief priest is the one who kills these animals, and in order for that offering to become a valid and acceptable condition, they have to be completely obedient to the priest, never protesting.

The Day of All Thongs
June 6, 1978

Because Abraham did not cut the dove and pigeon in two as he should have, birds of prey came down and defiled the sacrifices... Let its first investigate the reason why Abraham was instructed to cut the sacrifices in half.

God's work of salvation aims to restore the sovereignty of goodness by first dividing good from evil and then destroying evil and uplifting the good. This is the reason Adam had to be divided into Cain and Abel this is the reason why in Noah's day, God struck down evil through the flood judgment and winnowed out Noah's family as the good.

God had Abraham cut the sacrifices in two before offering them, with the intention of doing the symbolic work of dividing good from evil, which was left unaccomplished by Adam and Noah...

Why was it a sin not to divide the offering? First, not dividing the offering has the significance of not dividing Abel from Cain. Without being divided, the offering could not be acceptable to God because it did not provide Him with an Abel-type object partner which He could take. Consequently, the mistakes Cam and Abel had made in their sacrifices were not restored.

Second, not dividing the offering was tantamount to repeating the failure of the providence in Noah's time, when good and evil remained undivided despite the flood. Like the failure of Noah's family, Abraham's failure to divide the offering also deprived God of His good object partner. Thus, it repeated the mistake which made the dispensation of the flood a failure.

Third, not dividing the offering means there was no symbolic condition to separate a realm of God's good sovereignty out of the universe under Satan's dominion.

Fourth, because the blood of death was not drained out of it, not dividing the offering meant it could not be a sanctified offering acceptable to God.

In other words, when Abraham offered the birds without first dividing them, it meant that he offered what had not been wrested from Satan's possession. His mistake had the effect of acknowledging Satan's claim of possession over them.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3.1.2

15:12 As the sun was going down a deep sleep fell on Abram and lo, a dread and great darkness fat upon him.

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, "Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years...

Abraham's mistake in making the symbolic offering caused the offering to be defiled. All the conditions God intended to restore through it were lost. As a consequence, Abraham's descendants had to suffer oppression and slavery for 400 years in the land of Egypt. Let us investigate the reason for this.

God called upon Abraham and commanded him to make the symbolic offering at the completion of a 400-year period for the separation of Satan. This period had been set up to restore through restitution the ten generations from Adam to Noah and the 40-day period of the flood judgment, lost to Satan due to Ham's sin. It was also the period of restitution necessary to establish Abraham as the father of faith when he completed the symbolic offering.

When Abraham's mistake in the symbolic offering allowed Satan to claim the offering as his, that 400-year period was also lost to Satan. To re-create on the national level the situation before Abraham's failure in the symbolic offering, which was itself parallel to when Noah was called upon to build the ark, God set up another 400-year period for the separation of Satan.

During this period, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. By enduring through this period, the Israelites were to restore -- this time on the national level -- the mutations of Noah and Abraham at the outset of their missions as the fathers of faith, thereupon also laying the foundation for Moses to begin his mission.

Hence, this period of slavery was both the time when the Israelites were being punished for Abraham's mistake and the time when they were laying the foundation to cut off ties to Satan and commence God's new providence.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3.1.2

16:1 Now Sar'ai, Abrams wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar;

2 and Sar'ai said to Abram, "Behold now, the Lord has prevented me front bearing children; go in to my maid; it may be that I shall obtain children by her" And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sar'ai.

3 So, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, Sar'ai, Abram wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

4 And he went in to Hagar; and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress... And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bare, Ish'mael.

Abraham, representing mankind, tried to make a complete turnabout by making symbolic offerings. Yet because he did not cut the birds in two, the condition was not established. Then the course of Abraham's family was to pass through three stages -- from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. Finally, for the first time, a victorious historical turning point was made at the time of Jacob.

The Turning Point of History
December 1, 1975

If Abraham had not failed in the symbolic offering, Isaac and his half-brother Ishmael would have stood in the positions of Abel and Cain. They would have been responsible to fulfill the restitutional condition to remove the fallen nature which Cain and Abel did not accomplish. However, because Abraham failed in the offering, God set up Isaac in the position of Abraham, and Esau and Jacob in the positions originally intended for Ishmael and Isaac.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3.2

... Ishmael was the Cain type offspring of Abraham. Who got the real victory in those areas of the Middle East? Islam. Abraham had two wives. Because Sarah could not bear children, he took a second wife to have a son.

When Sarah was 100 years of age, Isaac was born, but the second wife had a child too. Those two wives were supposed to be united together as one family of Abraham but that was not done.

The crucifixion of Jesus followed the same pattern as Abraham's time. Because of his crucifixion, the right and lets have been divided, and vertically, upper and lower have been divided. All kinds of divisions occurred centering on the crucifixion.

The coming of the messiah is expected within Christianity, and Judaism united in that direction. At the same time, on the left side we see them united with Barabbas. This is the tragic and detrimental division. When the Second Coming of the messiah occurs, his first mission is to unite left and right.

The messiah is going to unite mind and body on the individual level. The Second Coming must be the one who overcomes the failure of the times of Jesus. If acceptance of the Second Coming of the messiah happened immediately after World War II, there would be no communism. However, that was not done. Instead, rejection of the messiah occurred.

So for over 40 years, Father has had to struggle to lay the new foundation from which he can restore the whole world. During this time, modern communism was born. Therefore, this Cold War era was a time of struggle between right and left. The fight between the free world and the communist world became very severe.

If Abraham had not failed in his symbolic offering, Isaac and his half-brother, Ishmael, in place of Abel and Cain, should have set up the condition of indemnity to remove the fallen nature which had been left unaccomplished by Cain and Abel.

Because of Abraham's failure, God, by setting up Isaac in Abraham's position, and Esau and Jacob in place of Ishmael and Isaac, worked the providence to have them set up the condition of indemnity to remove the fallen nature. Therefore, Esau and Jacob, centering on Isaac, are in the position of Shem and Ham centering on Noah.

True Patents' Birthday
February 20, 1991

17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty, walk below me, and be blameless.

2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly..."

3 Then Abram fell on his face: and God said to him,

4 "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father a multitude of nations.

5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham: for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations..."

In the seventh century the religion of Islam emerged among the central people who received much blessing from God upon their return from Egypt. Muslims and Jews were brothers, but became adversaries. Muslims are expanding more rapidly than Christianity.

They have a strong conviction. They are not swaying back and forth. But Christians are swaying back and forth, compromising. Ishmael and Isaac were both sons of Abraham, but their descendants became adversaries and fought throughout history. They fought centering on Jerusalem and Israel was lost. The lost Israel should be restored, but not by force.

That's why Rev. Moon, representing Christianity gave his hand to Minister Farrakhan; and also to President W'ahid of Indonesia. I want to see Wahid and Farrakhan become brothers. I helped them at the Million Family March.

White people opened their eyes in alarm, saying that I should not help them. But I said to those people, "You opposed me, so wait and see who is right. Everybody who follows me will be blessed by God. Close your eyes and pray. Don't open your mouth."

UTS 25th Graduation
June 21, 2001

If someone has something special, it is human nature to want to boast about it. But for a long time Abraham kept the great dispensational will promised to him in his heart. He upheld that dispensation for the sake of fulfilling the will of God.

As the chosen root, no matter who touched him or vied to uproot him, he persisted in his way for the purpose of laying down a solid and unshakable foundation. Even when he was subjected to all kinds of persecution and ridicule, he lived a life of unseen ordeals in which he persevered and overcame.

Abraham's course of ordeals, which others did not know about, became even greater when Abram ("exalted father") was elevated from the individual level to Abraham ("father of many nations"), who was chosen to be the ancestor of faith.

We should reflect back on our own past and, making a one-to-one comparison between ourselves and Abraham, we should deeply repent. What is more, we must experience the situation in which Abraham found himself.

We can never forget that we should inherit the foundation of faith that Abraham established on the basis of his hardships.

The family of Abraham, the ancestor of faith, was promised a blessing. Through Isaac, Jacob and Moses, this was raised to the level of the people, and eventually expanded to the worldwide level. If there had been no loyalty and faith in Abraham that had penetrated deeply into Heaven, then there could not have emerged a relationship on the earth that could create a bond with Heaven.

Do you know what the secret was behind Abraham's rise to the position of the ancestor of faith? Because his heart of longing toward Heaven and love for the earth was so extraordinary, he could build a wide and solid ground for the relationship with the Father in Heaven and could become the ancestor of faith.

The Responsibility Of Those Who Have Become The Root
July 1, 1956

17:15 And God said to Abraham, "As for Sar'ai your wife. you shall not call her name Sar'ai, but Sarah shall be her name.

16 I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her; I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."

17:9 And God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised."

Because of the Fall, Adam's family lost the original blood lineage. That's why, in order to indemnify this lost blood lineage, the people of Israel practiced circumcision. What is circumcision? It is the cutting of the tip of the manic sexual organ.

At the time of Noah, what kind of judgment was there? A flood, judgment by water. So, instead of going through the circumcision, that time was the water judgment. It was like a baptism. That's why when John the Baptist came, instead of practicing circumcision, what did he practice? Baptism. It was not just a random happening; it was God's will.

Leaders' Meeting
December 22, 1994

In the Old Testament Age, which was the providential age to find hope, circumcision was the condition for chosen people. In the New Testament Age, baptism of water and fire (through the Holy Spirit) established faith before Gad. You should know that in the coming Completed Testament Age, you can enter into the loving relationship with God by receiving His seal of love.

Let Us Regain the Victorious Nation
January 4, 1959

Chapter Seven - Sodom And Gomorra

Chapter Seven - Sodom And Gomorra

And the Loud said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city. I will spare the whole place for their sake."
Genesis 18:26

One Righteous Man

18:23 Then Abraham drew near: and said. "Wilt thou indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou then destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?

25 Far be it from thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fair as the wicked! Far be that from thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

26 And the Lord said, "If I find at Sodom fifth righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

If you look at Isaiah 6:13, it is written, "As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land." Here God emphasizes that if any root remains, He is going to use that root to blossom new buds and begin a new dispensation...

Abraham, who was like the hidden root, did not evade any situation but overcame all of them, even when the era was laden with vices. History was haunted by confusion, and the environment was chaotic. He felt heartbroken about the declining cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and appealed to Heaven on their behalf.

Sodom and Gomorrah deserved to be punished by God, but they had nothing to do with the place where Abraham was. It did not directly concern Abraham whether or not the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah understood the will of God, or whether the people were doomed.

But because he had a sense of mission toward the dispensation of Heaven, and he felt that he must take the responsibility, he was concerned and anxious about the two cities night and day. What is written in the biblical verses reveals such internal feelings of Abraham.

Today when we are witnessing the concluding period of the 6,000-year history, you are able to sleep in peace, wear good clothes and eat good food, not because of some merit on your part. You will be doomed if that is what you think. The reason that the world can at least sustain us like this is because in the background, there were unknown people who have become the hidden root and were building the altar of appeal on which they have been shedding tears and blood.

If there were even just a few righteous people, no matter how wicked Sodom and Gomorrah were, Abraham would have used the fact that there were righteous people as a condition, and would have appealed to God, "Father, who determines and judges with justice, is not judging both the good and the evil people equally with fire contrary to Your will?" When he realized that it was only he who was praying for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham's heart was deeply hurt.

Do you know the main reason Abraham became such an historical figure? We must never forget that, eschewing his own happiness and comfort, Abraham risked his life for the sake of his tribe, without others even knowing about it.

The Responsibility of Those Who Have Become the Root
July 1, 1956

18:27 Abraham answered, "Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to speak to the Lord, who am I but dust and ashes.

28 Suppose five of fifty righteous are lacking? Wilt thou destiny the whole city for lack of five? ... Suppose forty are found there... Suppose thirty are found there... Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it."

32 Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it."

33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

In the time of Abraham, God announced His judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy those cities, so God promised to relent if Abraham could find ten righteous people in them. Abraham could not come up with even ten righteous people, so the cities were destroyed.

Do you think New York City today is better or worse than Sodom and Gomorrah? It is worse. This means that New York, and actually every city on the earth, deserves fire and brimstone today. The angels told Lot to leave Sodom because God was going to destroy it. Such an order is about to be given to people in the world today, "Leave that place behind; don't try to save anything, just come out of there." What would you do in such a situation?

Our Pledge
November 21, 1982

Within each individual, there is that borderline between God and Satan. Perhaps one person has every part of himself on God's side, with only one foot straddling the line over to the Satanic side. Or maybe he has only his big toe hanging over in Satan's realm and he thinks he is okay. But Satan can loop a string around that toe and try to pull him all the way over to the other side. Once Satan successfully pulls half of him over, he will claim the whole person. Satan uses winches and ropes and drags him completely over and God cannot do anything to prevent it.

Between hostile nations, the border is watched very carefully. If someone steps over the line with just one foot, he is considered to have invaded the other country. He might argue that he was mostly on his side, but that would not prevent the other country from claiming an invasion. By the same token, when a person steps one foot on Satan's territory, he is claimed by Satan and God cannot do anything.

According to this viewpoint, are you clearly on Gods side or are you still on the borderline, moving back and forth? If you are standing on Gods side, do your eyes still wander over to the satanic side? Now it is the Christmas season and you are involved in your mission work, which means that you probably have to make the sacrifice of not seeing your family during this special time.

By dedicating yourself now, you know you are offering that sacrifice for the sake of God and the world. When Lot was commanded to leave the city of Sodom, he had no idea of where he was going, or what he was going to do. He and his family were leaving behind familiar, comfortable surroundings and heading towards the unknown When Lot's wife was tempted by her past situation, and she looked back, she tuned into a pillar of salt.

Emergency Time Period
December 12, 1982

Today, we in the free world see many kinds of love, and the problem we have is finding a true discipline or standard of love. Commonly people think that when men and women have a good time together, that is love. In many cases that enjoyment is an expression of carnal desire and there is no real beginning or end, just a phenomenon with no direction.

That kind of love could not form that nation of peace and freedom and unity. People talk about love today, but tomorrow they could he strangers or even mortal enemies. There is no guarantee of happiness there, only chaos and setbacks.

That kind of love causes destruction and does not possess what we call the central theme of true love. I want you to understand that Satan mobilized the force of such love to destroy the world. Using this kind of love as bait, Satan is taking true freedom, true peace and true unity away from us.

We know about Satan, but there is also a God, the opposite of Satan. God is talking about love, but of an entirely different kind, one which has a beginning and end, with some background and tradition. From this standpoint, the satanic expression of love is truly His adversary.

The word "sin" refers to violation of the law of the love of God. God abhors sin, and the misuse of love is the crime God abhors the most. It is the principle that ultimately the law and love of God will prevail. Therefore, whoever indulges in unprincipled love can only perish.

In Italy the lustful and immoral city of Pompeii was destroyed by instant calamity. Sodom and Gomorrah perished under the same law. The Roman Empire once prevailed in the world with unparalleled power, but it collapsed when it violated the will of God. America today is no exception, so it must not violate the law of the love of God or it too will be destroyed.

Mankind and the Ideal World
April 29, 1979

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them there, he :went to meet them, and bowed himself with his face to the earth,

2 and said, "My lords, turn aside, I pray you, to your servant house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend the night in the street."

3 But he tugged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 But before they lay down, the men of the city. the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.

Adam and Eve are the dwelling place of God -- a holy place, a temple. The human heart is meant to be the dwelling place of God's love. Thus Adam and Eve represent a walking and visible form of God on the earth. God is meant to dwell within them and through them to have dominion over all the creation.

This is the secret of the universe; no one in history has known this. If there had been no Fall. God would have fully loved Adam and Eve. They were the most holy temple and dwelling place for God's love. But Satan took away that most holy place. This was the worst disaster of history. That is why the misuse of love is a cardinal sin in the sight of God; thus such places as Sodom and Gomorrah, in which immorality was rampant, were destroyed by fire and brimstone.

God's Day
January 1, 1987

19:9 But they said, "Stand back" And they said, "This fellow came to sojourn, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door

10 But the men (the angels) put forth their hands and brought Lot into the house to them and shut the door.

11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves groping for the door.

In the Bible verses I read at the beginning of this sermon (Gen, 19:18-29), the aching heart of God, who had to bring judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, is expressed. When God was about to cast down judgment upon those cities, there was Lot, the nephew of the beloved Abraham.

God allowed Lot to escape from the judgment. He did not let Lot escape from the judgment because of Lot's personal merit. It was because God loved Abraham that He allowed Lot, who did not have much personal merit, to escape the judgment. It does not mean that the family of Lot understood the heart of God.

Although Lot and his two daughters escaped to the place God directed them to, Lot's wife did not understand the will of God. Because she turned back with more longing for the house and environment that she used to live in than she had concern about her determination toward the will of God, this became the condition for her to receive the wrath of God even as Sodom and Gomorrah did.

There is a path which human beings must walk. That is a path in which we must follow the will of the heavenly principles and be determined to face any kind of difficulty. This is the fateful path that all fallen people must walk.

Lot's wife died because she did not have the determination to step forward without regard for all the things that belonged to her. If she had believed in her husband, who obeyed the direction of Heaven, and had complied with his directions, then she world not have died.

In the course of providential history, God raised someone who could represent His heart so that if the people could not believe in God, they could at least believe in His words and make a determination. However, those who cannot even do that will not avoid the judgment.

Let Us Not Weaken Our Determination Toward Heaven
February 23, 1958

Chapter Eight - Isaac

Chapter Eight - Isaac

"He said, 'Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
Genesis 22:12

Offering

21:5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

6 And Sarah said. "God has made laughter for me; every one who hears will laugh over me."

7 And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

8. And the child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

From the time Abraham left the homeland he loved, in other words, from the moment that he received the order from God to leave Ur of the Chaldeans, he had to lead a life of misfortune such as he had never experienced. He had to feel a sorrowful heart like no other seeker of Heaven had ever experienced.

He did not have any relatives there. He did not have any comrade. He did not have any friend. Even then he had to be responsible for the heart encompassing all the misfortunes of humanity; taking responsibility for the whole history of restoration.

We need to understand the unfortunate life of Abraham, who had to overcome everything with the mindset that no matter what kind of misfortune, tribulation, sorrow, difficulty and pain came his way, he would fulfill the will of God.

Although Abraham greatly exerted himself until the time he built the altar and offered the three great sacrifices, he did not even know that the internal sorrow centering on the sacrifice would confront him.

Thus, we must reflect upon the position of Abraham. He was in an environment of misfortune. He should have known that he was representing a historical mission and the mission of the age. He should have known that he must also represent the mission of the future generations and the mission of Heaven. However, his thoughts could not reach that far.

He thought that by climbing over the hill of external misfortune, everything would be resolved. He did not know that he had to resolve not just the misfortune of that time, but also the misfortune of the future.

Abraham should have set the one standard point of restoration in the eternal history of humanity, but he could not accomplish that. Therefore, although he overcame the life of external misfortunes and went as far as offering Isaac as a sacrifice, that did not put the matter to rest. The internal misfortune has been passed down until today. Abraham, who was responsible for the historical misfortunes, was in a miserable situation.

Abraham was concerned, asleep or awake and in every moment, that if he neglected the fact that he was the sacrifice centering on the will of God, then God's will could not be realized. Furthermore, he mourned for Heaven, and he decided that he would offer himself for the sake of Heaven. You have to understand this heart of Abraham.

Let Us Climb Over the Hill of Historical Misfortune
January 19, 1958

22:1 After these things God tested .Abraham, and said in him, "Abraham." And he said ...Here am I."

2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac. whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

3 So Abraham rose early in the mooring, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.

If there is someone responds, "Father, I am here," to the voice of God, who has been calling out for His sons and daughters on the earth, then even if his hands are ugly his heart has been wounded and his appearance is humble, he will never perish.

This is because he can represent the sorrow of God, and his heart can connect with the heart of Heaven. The basic rule of the heavenly principles is that the path such a person is walking cannot be blocked even if the whole world is mobilized.

Because Jesus understood this kind of basic principle, he mourned for the sake of the Israelites who betrayed him. He shed tears for the sect that persecuted him. He wished blessings upon the enemies who were putting him on the cross.

If the people of faith today are trying to stand as the bride before Heaven with Jesus the Bridegroom, yet have not experienced the sad heart that Jesus and the prophets and saints of the past felt, then they must repent.

Sons and daughters must emerge who know how to mourn over Heaven, the nation and the world. If people are seeking happiness even as God is mourning, they will surely be ruined. This kind of nation will come to ruin.

God has been calling for you through the countless prophets and saints during the thousands of years of the course of history. For those of you who are receiving the grace of God, today is the time when you must look back on your past, examine what kind of attitude you have and what position you are in, and make a cold appraisal.

Only when you become sons and daughters whom the Father can welcome with outstretched arms, can you finally stand before the Father, who has been calling out to you with an ardent heart.

To do that, you must climb over all the hills of sorrow pass through all paths of the cross and, as a free and liberated person. be able to attend the eternal Father, saying, "My Father."

When these sons and daughters emerge, God's joy will begin. This was the historical hope, the day this hope is realized is the day of the Second Advent. Christianity is supposed to play the central role in actualizing this.

You must never turn away from the historical calling. You have to understand that God does not call human beings only at the end of history. He is calling us even now.

He Is Calling Us
January 5, 1958

Abraham took three days to reach the place on Mt. Moriah where he was to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. This three-day period for purifying Isaac was to begin a new course in the providence.

Thenceforth, a three-day period has been required for the separation of Satan at the start of new dispensations. We find many instances of such periods in the history of the providence.

When Jacob was setting out from Haran with his family to begin the family course to restore Canaan, there was a three-day period for the separation of Satan. (Gen. 31:20-22) Moses, too, led the Israelites through a three-day period for the separation of Satan as they left Egypt to begin the national course to restore Canaan. (Exd. 8:27) When Jesus began the worldwide spiritual course to restore Canaan, he spent three days in the tomb to accomplish the separation of Satan.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3

22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together

7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

8 Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.

If Abraham had maintained the same heart that he had when he abandoned his homeland and had worried only about the will of God, If he had attended the altar with all his heart and energy, then he could not have made a mistake while making the symbolic offerings, he would have understood that he was in an extraordinary position. By pouring out all of his faith and energy, he would have come forward with the determination to become one with God.

Having failed in making the first sacrifice, Abraham needed the sacrifice of Isaac as a substitute for the offering in order to inherit the will of God again. In other words, he needed his son to unite with him and with Noah.

This a the reason he searched for the place where his heart and his sons heart could bear fruit in oneness. Abraham won the recognition of Heaven at the very moment he placed Isaac on the altar on the mountain of Moriah and was about to strike him with a knife.

Let Us Not Weaken Our Determination Toward Heaven
February 23, 1958

When Abraham was prepared to slay his son, the son God promised, he demonstrated utmost loyalty to Heaven. This act of faith was tantamount to Abraham killing himself -- a self which had been defiled by Satan due to his earlier failure in the symbolic offering.

Accordingly, when God saved Isaac from death, Abraham was also resurrected to life, now loosed from all the ties with which Satan had bound him when his symbolic offering was defiled. Furthermore, Abraham and Isaac attained inseparable oneness in their fidelity to God's will.

Though Isaac and Abraham were two different individuals, when God brought them back to life, they became as one person in the sight of God. Even though the dispensation through Abraham had failed and was prolonged through Isaac, as long as Isaac succeeded, Isaac's victory would become Abraham's victory. Therefore, God would be able to regard Abraham as not having failed and the dispensation as not having been prolonged.

It is not clear how old Isaac was when Abraham offered the boy as a sacrifice. He was old enough to carry the wood for the sacrifice, and when he saw there was no lamb to be offered, he inquired of his father about it. (Gen. 22:7) Isaac was apparently old enough to understand his father's intentions. We can infer that he helped his father, even though he knew that his father was preparing to offer him as the sacrifice.

If Isaac had resisted his father's attempt to offer him as a sacrifice, God definitely would not have accepted the offering. In fact, Isaac demonstrated a faith as great as that of Abraham. Together, their faith made the offering successful and there was no way for Satan to retain his hold on them.

In making the offering, Isaac and Abraham underwent a process of death and resurrection. As a result, two things were accomplished. First, Abraham succeeded in the separation of Satan, who had invaded him because of his mistake in the symbolic offering.

He restored through restitution the position he had occupied before he had made the mistake and transferred his providential mission to Isaac from this restored position. Second, by faithfully obeying God's will. Isaac inherited the divine mission from Abraham and demonstrated the faith which qualified him to make the symbolic offering.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3

22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham," And he said, "Here am I."

12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now 1 know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

Abraham even obeyed the order of God to offer as a burnt sacrifice his precious son, Isaac, who was born when Abraham was 100 years old. That command constituted the one courageous condition that was unprecedented in history.

That event was the condition that represented heaven and earth and decided the fate of events in heaven, events on earth, and of many millions of matters. Although Abraham was ignorant of this, he made a sincere attempt to place his son on the altar and sacrifice him after he had received the order to offer Isaac.

Think about the heart of Abraham, who was trying to strike his beloved son with the knife. His mentality truly transcended the reality. In his time, who could have recognized that kind of faith?

The adventurous deed of Abraham indicated that he belonged to Heaven and that his family belonged to Heaven. It showed that he as well as his family and all of their belongings would follow the commandment of God. He realized this fact while he was making a burnt offering of his only son.

The Providence of God and the Nature of the Adventure that Transcends Reality
December 2, 1956

22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14 So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day. "On the mount of the Lord it shall he provided."

15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,

16 and said, "By myself I have sworn," says the Lord, "because you have done this, and have not withheld your soft, your only son from me"…

God's heart was higher than that of the elderly couple (Abraham and Sarah) who were willing to kill and offer their only son.

The Way of Goth Will
On God's Words, Character

After the divine mission had passed from Abraham to Isaac, Abraham offered the ram provided by God as the substitute for Isaac.

In fact, this was the symbolic offering by which Isaac restored the foundation of faith. Since Isaac had carried the wood fir the sacrifice, we can infer that he participated in the offering of the ram.

Thus, even though it is written that Abraham made the symbolic offering, Isaac, who had united with Abraham and inherited his mission, was given providential credit for the offering. In this way, Isaac, having inherited Abraham's mission, made the symbolic offering and restored through restitution the foundation of faith.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3

24:1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had. "Put your hand under my thigh,

3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and of the earth that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,

4 but will go to my county and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac."

From the viewpoint of the Principle of Creation, God and the parents created the spouse. Therefore, in following the law of re-creation it is essential that God and the father and mother, not ourselves, select the spouse.

Blessing and Ideal Family
Chapter 4.1.1

Marriage is not supposed to take place haphazardly. It is not to be done between persons who meet in the street while coming and going. If two people marry just because they feel attracted to one another, some disaster could happen just as they get married.

Then we would realize that there was something mysterious about their fate. It was because they did not fit well with each other. A pine tree must be grafted to a pine tree There are types that fit correctly. When you realize this, you must deal with the blessing of marriage this time with new and better attitudes.

Absolutely do not have the attitude that you want to pass through the blessing in a position that centers on yourself. You should know that your marriage is not for yourself; it is for the nation and even for the world. Moreover, you must take to heart that your marriage is for the sake of your descendants.

Blessing and Ideal Family
Chapter 4.1.2

24:66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.

67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent and took Rebekah, and she become his wife; and he loved her.

When a normal man is distressed, he can look to God and God can embrace him. At his side, his wife will console him, and his children will come and be with him. In every direction, he has a friend.

Contrary to current thinking, no matter how perfect a man may seem, unless he can find a wife and form a relationship of love, he is helpless in his search for happiness. No matter how beautiful a woman may be, unless she can find love with a spouse, there is absolutely no place she can find happiness. She has to find God and children. Without these elements where would that beautiful woman go to find happiness?

You have been thinking about heaven, but what is the nature of heaven? This love is the very core of heaven. Do you understand' When people lose loved ones, as when a husband loses his wife or children lose their parents, they are in agony. Why do we feel so sad in such a case?

The universal power tries to preserve the family relationship and make the ideal prosper. But if one part of that ideal form dies, then that portion is lacking from this universal form. We feel sad because we want to supplement the area that was lost. That is what is expressed in our sorrow

God cannot change this formula. God must also find that center point of love where He can reside. Some people think that if they just pray hard enough, they can find God. Maybe they can on a temporary basis, but how can they dwell with God all the rest of their lives? They cannot do that through prayer alone.

Man is composed of a masculine aspect and also a feminine aspect. A man alone does not have God and he does not have his children. There is no such thing as a perfect man by himself. The greatest man is only half of a whole if he does not have God, his wife, and his children.

For women the same is true. Only after finding a spouse and coming together in love will they be perfect. Is there any justification for men to live together with men, or women with women? That is denying one's own chance of the continuance of his existence.

When a person is born, whether male or female, that person is born for the sake of someone of the opposite sex. That is the very origin of birth. No one, not even the greatest person on earth, was born for himself.

When they come into unity and in love, they can become a father and mother. A woman may go to college to understand her life and she can study philosophy and religion, but the simple answer is that she was born for the sake of  a man. That is fantastic. That is the undeniable truth.

The Original Family and the Family of Today
March 8, 1987

Chapter Nine - Jacob And Esau

Chapter Nine - Jacob And Esau

"But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept."
Genesis 33:4

"Two Nations Are In Your Womb"

25:21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer; and Rebekah his wife conceived.

22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is thus, why do I live?" So she went to inquire of the Lord.

23 And the Lord said to her "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided: the one shall be stronger than the other; the elder shall serve die younger."

24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

25 The first came forth red, all his body like a hairy mantle: so they called his name Esau.

26 Afterward his brother came forth and his hand had taken hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called. Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27 When the boys grew up. Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.

If Cain had loved Abel as God loved Abel, together they could have been received by God. This was what Cain had to do. If that had happened, enough foundation would have been laid within three generations for the Messiah to come, and the perfected dispensation would have materialized. But this did not work out. Cain killed Abel, and the foundation at that level came to naught.

After this, the dispensation became more complicated. Cain and Abel were two brothers born from one mother. To be reborn they must go back to the womb. Since they were born at different times, Cain and Abel were two quite different persons, and their emotions were not close

Thus when God came to attempt the dispensation for a second time, he used twins. The position of elder brother and younger brother among twins born an hour or two apart cannot be asserted in the same way as brothers who are one year or more apart.

When Rebecca was pregnant and she prayed, "God, within my womb there are two babies and they are fighting each other! What shall I do'" God answered. "There are two nations in your womb, the elder one will serve the younger."

Why did God say that? It is a most crucial point in the Bible, but no theologian knows the answer to this day. It was because. God had to establish the correct heavenly order, to put it right side up. That is why God said the elder would serve the younger.

How We Are Born Again
May 18, 1978

25:28 Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once when Jacob was boiling pottage, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.

30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red pottage, for I am famished!" (Therefore his name was called Edom.)

31 Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."

32 Esau said, "1 am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?"

33 Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

According to the Divine Principle, the elder son is the one who must receive the blessing or inheritance. Thus Jacob, in the position of second son, could not receive the blessing without restoring his birthright and taking the position of elder son.

So one day, as you know, Jacob gave some pottage to Esau in exchange for the birthright. Since Esau took his birthright lightly he was willing to sell it in that way. Thus the condition was already there to give the birthright to Jacob. For that reason, Jacob was entitled to receive the elder son's blessing from Isaac.

The Thirtieth Anniversary of the Unification Church
May 1, 1984

The victorious person must always be aware of the highest point and the center of things, wanting to bring himself closer to them. Let's examine whether this is true, or just a concept.

There are two long phases in the history of restoration, the Old Testament era and the New Testament era. Who are the victorious people in these eras? Was Noah persistent, or did he quit when things became difficult? Although no one understood Noah, he stood on his conviction that he mattered to God.

Who was another person who never gave up but just continued the fight? Jacob. He wanted to in the birthright of the elder son. Though people wondered what he was up to, he just kept going.

Jacob thought that if he was better in every way than his brother Esau, serving God more and being more attentive to his people, then he could have the birthright. Jacob already envisioned the goal when he started his course, seeing a vision of the future and then beginning his fight. On the other hand, Esau didn't care so much about the future but only about the present.

Tomorrow will come even for the person who cares only about today. If a person can envision both the present and the future, which would he place more emphasis on? Would the person who wants an easy life look to the present or the fume?

The Victorious Day
June 28, 1980

27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My .son"; and he answered, "Here I am."

2 He said, "Behold. I am old; I do not know the day of my death.

3 Now then, take you, weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me,

4 and prepare for me savory food, such as 1 love, and bring it to me that I may eat; that I may bless you before I die."

5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,

6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau.

7 'Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food that I may eat it, and bless you before the Lord before I die.'

If Jacob had not had cooperation from his mother, the history of Israel could not have taken place. What did Jacob's mother do? In order to fulfill the will of God, she went to extreme measures, deceiving her own husband and her eldest son, thus allowing Jacob to be in a position where he could fulfill has mission from God.

Have you ever heard of someone trying to buy the birthright from his elder brother? From a secular point of view, .Jacob's mother was a liar and Jacob himself was a swindler. The Bible records these things very clearly, as well as the fact that God glorified and blessed them. This has been a puzzle for Bible students.

Satan is the master of this world, so this satanic world is in the elder brother's position of holding sovereignty. If you confront Satan and inform him you have come to take over his world, will he just drop it and leave it to you?

Instead, you say that you will take back the world in the same way that Satan first stole it. It is only logical -- Satan took the world without God's permission, so you don't need Satan's permission to take at back to God.

How slid Satan take the world? First, he lied to his own Father [God] and to Adam, deceiving father and son. Furthermore, through Eve, Satan deceived the husband. In the process of the Fall, God and His daughter were separated when she became a betrayer.

In restoration the reverse way is necessary, so God and His daughter must be united; in other words, women should he united with God. Satan and women united in the Fall and took Adam and all things of creation away from God. In restoration, God and women unite to take the husband and all things of creation back to God.

That was the position of Jacob and his mother, Rebecca. Here mother and son united with God to cut the fallen tie, which in this case was to the husband, and to the son who was on the satanic side.

Now you understand why that process was acceptable in the sight of God. Their first task was restoration of the birthright of the eldest son. Why was this necessary? The elder son's position is always that of master or dominator, which was the right and authority bestowed on the eldest son.

In biblical history the family heritage always passed from elder son to elder son. Since the elder son's position was stolen by Satan, God used Jacob to restore that position by taking it back.

By restoring the elder son's position, Jacob could restore dominion over all things and over men, Since Jacob totally united with God, once he could take the position of elder son he completed God's sovereignty, ending the satanic rule.

By Jacob's cutting off the satanic line, restoring the elder son's position to God and creating a tribe and people God finally had a territory and people He could claim. This is why God gave Jacob the name Israel, which means victor.

The Day of the Victory of Heaven
October 4, 1979

27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you.

9 Go to the flock, and fetch me two good kids, that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves:

10 and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."

11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother: "Behold, my brother Esau is it hairy man, and 1 am a smooth man.

12 Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing."

13 His mother said to him. "Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to me."

Several times Jacob used deception to attain some goal. In order to deceive his own father he used a kidskin to imitate his brother Esau, who was a very hairy man. Jacob came in to his father, who was practically blind, and let him touch the hide on his arms, and because he convinced his father he was Esau, Jacob received the blessing in place of his brother.

How could such deception be accepted in the world of God? No one has understood this. According to the principle of creation, only the eldest son can receive the inheritance. Therefore, in order to attain the inheritance of God Jacob had to move into the elder son's position.

Jacob was not practicing outright deception; he had already bought the birthright when Esau was very hungry and carelessly sold his birthright to his younger brother for a pot of lentils. In reality, Esau had already lost his birthright because he didn't care enough about it.

Jacob knew the will of God and God's dispensation, and he wanted to become the heir who could receive the inheritance, The Bible speaks of The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," not the God of Esau, but the God of Jacob.

This is so because Jacob was right there to receive the inheritance. In order to win that position unselfishly for the fulfillment of the will of God, he had to bring himself to the eldest sods position.

In Jacob's family, as long as Esau was not ready to unite with his younger brother, the whole family would continue to have difficulty. Esau and his father were in Satan's position. Nothing will automatically come into unity.

They had to work very hard. Esau and Isaac were in Satan's position, so the mother and Jacob had to work to accomplish God's purpose. Rebecca had to work to bring them under Jacob. How difficult it was for her.

Esau and his father had to be subjugated naturally, not by force or any other means. They had to say, "Yes, you are right. I will come under you." So Rebecca had to work very hard. Jacob had to work hard, of course, but his mother had to work even harder.

She had to work hundreds of times harder. How much rests upon the mother! Even with Jacob's hard work, the mother's responsibility was necessary to make the restoration possible.

The Completed Testament Era and Me
February 14, 1993

27:15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son;

16 and the skins of the kids she put upon his hands and upon the smooth part of his neck;

17 and she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 So he went in to his father and said, "My father," and he said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?"

19 Jacob said to his father; "I am Esau your first-born. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game that you may bless me."

20 But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly; my son?" He answered, "Because the Lord your God granted me success."

21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel you my son to know whether you are really my son Esau or not."

22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father; who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.

24 He said. "Are you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am."

25 Then he said, "Bring it to me that I may eat of my son's game and bless you." So he brought it to him and he ate; and he brought him wine and he drank.

26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son."

27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said. "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed!

28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.

29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one who curses you, and blessed be even one who blesses you!"

It has always seemed strange that a mother would deceive her husband and eldest son and side with her younger son. Why would God allow that? Jacob knew what he had to do and was serious enough about God's work that he tried to win the inheritance, but Esau was so casual about his birthright that he let Jacob have it for a bowl of food.

Esau worried about himself first. By assisting Jacob to do something which Isaac wouldn't have agreed to, Rebecca clearly was taking responsibility in the providence as well.

Isaac unknowingly gave his blessing to Jacob, who was pretending to be Esau. When Esau came to Isaac to receive the blessing and discovered what his brother had done, Esau was so angry that he tried to kill Jacob.

But Jacob escaped and worked hard for 21 years in Haran. Even though he had inherited his father's blessing, he couldn't come back home, and once he did return home he couldn't automatically claim to he Abel because he didn't know how Esau would respond.

If Esau had rejected him, then Jacob would have had no place to go. In restoration, Esau had to accept the fact that Isaac had given his blessing to Jacob and to add his own blessing as well. Cain has to approve Abel becoming Abel.

Abel's Right Path from the Providential Point of View
December 30, 1979

Haran

29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed."

22 So Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her

24 Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.

25 And in the morning, behold, it was Leah; and Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me"

In Haran, Jacob worked very hard, but his uncle Laban was vicious and took advantage of him, deceiving him more than ten times. While enduring these difficulties Jacob had to create his family Jacob worked very hard to get married; his uncle promised to give him one daughter in exchange for seven years' labor, but then Laban did not give him the girl he wanted.

Because Lahan was on the satanic side, he did not wart to immediately give up the daughter that Jacob wanted. He wanted to delay the heavenly schedule so he made Jamb work another seven year's to marry his second daughter.

Jacob would have come under satanic dominion again if he had decided to just be content with the first marriage, which had been arranged by Laban. Jacob had to go on until his goal was achieved.

After seven years of hard labor, Jacob earned Rachel, the daughter that he originally wanted as his bride. Twelve children were born to the two wives, and their descendants later became the twelve different tribes of Israel. For 21 years Jacob was a sojourner who suffered away from his home.

Children's Day 1976
November 22, 1976

29:26 Laban said, "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born.

27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."

28 Jacob did so and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to wife.

29 (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid.)

30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.

For the first seven years, Jacob worked hard to gain the hand of Rachel, but whom did he get? He got Leah instead. We see that the intent of God was to reverse the process of the Fall. Therefore, by first going through the process with Leah and then with Rachel, he could restore the Fall.

Do you see that? In the world, there are two types of women. One type is fallen and the other type is in the restored position. Just like God's position, the Lord to come faces the same problem of two women, one in the fallen position and the other restored. How can he restore fallen Eves position and bring her back to the original Eve's position?

Leah stole her younger sister's position. First embracing the satanic side [Leah], later embracing the heavenly side [Rachel], Jacob tried to work this out. We can see how hard he worked, even though it was difficult.

Basically the problem for Jacob was none other than these two women fighting each other. We know that restoration gained by paying restitution is the formula of history -- an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth -- that one-for-one principle. Rebecca, in the woman's position, worked with a clear purpose of bringing oneness centering on Jacob, to subjugate the one in Cain's position [Esau].

She did not know at that time, but we can look back in history and pinpoint that now. We can now see how difficult it was for her at that time. So it was Rachel's position, not Leah's, which had to be upheld and restored together with her. How difficult it was to achieve that.

In Jewish history, the main history in God's providence of restoration, we see that disharmony between these two women caused the later division between northern and southern Israel.

They became the ten tribes of the northern kingdom and the two tribes of the south. Leah and Rachel, as I have already stressed, should have come into unity, but they didn't. They fought. Leah and the servants gave birth to ten children, while Rachel had two.

There were divisions within the family, ultimately becoming a divided nation, even fighting a war in the future. So here, the person in the position of fallen Eve, and the two women [Rachel and Leah] must become one and he restored.

They must become one, and then go back to God. Then the brothers [their sons] would follow behind them. The mother Rebecca, together with Rachel, had to pave the road for them to go on. But Leah did not help them; she even opposed them. These three generations should have become one.

The Completed Testament Age and Me
February 14, 1993

31:17 So Jacob rose, and set his sons and his wives on camels:

18 and he drove away all his cattle, all his livestock which he had gained, the cattle in his possession which he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

God's children forsook their original position and went to dwell in Satan's realm. The basic struggle of history has always centered upon the second son's efforts to win the elder son's position. Only when that process is successful can people rise to another level in the providence

This is obvious in the story of Jacob, who first claimed the birthright of his elder brother, Esau, and finally overcame him with love -- not force -- winning his elder brothers love in return. Jacob was the first person to successfully subjugate the elder brother.

Jacob could not merely buy the birthright; he also went to the satanic world (the land of his uncle Laban) and struggled there for 21 years in order to gain the physical victory by becoming prosperous and establishing his family. That physical victory was an absolute requirement for returning home and winning his elder brother over.

Jacob's pattern became the classic one, followed by later providential figures. Jacob started from the individual level; what he accomplished was later expanded to the tribal and national levels. Jesus' mission was to fulfill Jacob's dispensation on the national level.

The descendants of Jacob, the chosen people, were physically removed from their original land and taken into the enemy land, Egypt. Only after a long struggle there could they head back to Canaan. Even then, they had to fight and destroy seven enemy tribes in Canaan before they could settle the land.

Holy Wine Ceremony
August 20. 1985

32:6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saving, We came to your brother Esau, and he is corning to meet you, and four hundred men with him."

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels into two companies...

32:17 He instructed the foremost, "When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, 'To whom do you belong? Where arc you going? And whose are these before you?

18 Then you shall say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.'"

When Jacob returned after 21 years in a foreign country, he had prospered and was a wealthy man. Esau and Jacob weren't completely isolated during those 21 years but were very conscious of each other. The reason that Jacob worked hard to earn his wives and property was so that he would have enough power to overcome Esau's power, Jacob didn't work hard for his own sake but for the dispensation.

Thus he sent all his servants and possessions to his brother, trying to win his heart. Jacob asked only that Esau accept him and give his kiss of approval. In this case, material things served perfectly as a sacrifice for Cain in the dispensation.

Esau had sent people to try to kill Jacob but as he received many gifts from Jacob he came to feel that he was wrong to think lightly of God's birthright and sell it so cheaply. He could understand that God loved Jacob more, and since he didn't want to rebel against God, he came to love his brother.

This story has confused many people, but now it makes sense, and we can see that it is most important for our own relationships. This formula applies to every situation and every age.

Abel's Right Path from the Providential Point of View
December 30, 1979

You recall that Esau received a great many gifts when Jacob freely gave of his earnings of 21 years. What is the significance of this act? In doing so, Jacob set the condition by which we also can purchase our birthright through giving our fortune.

Thereafter, all religious people have given up their material wealth to the satanic world, and in doing so could not only win the satanic world but win their birthright. Jesus also gave up everything, possessing nothing throughout his entire mission. Once you know the Divine Principle, the Bible suddenly becomes very logical.

True Parents' Day from the Historical Point of View
April 18, 1977

What Is Thy Name?

32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.

24 And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.

25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob's thigh was put out of joint as he wrested with him.

26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said. "I will not let you go, unless you bless me."

27 And he said to him "What is your name?" And he said, Jacob."

28 Then he said, "Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."

29 Then Jacob asked him, "Tell me. I pray: your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.

30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peni'el, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved."

The purpose of the providence is to establish one man as the Messiah who, as the representative of the individual, family, nation and world, can stand in this vertical position, recognized by God and Satan. This person has to wrestle with God as well as Satan. Jacob had to wrestle with the angel at the ford of Jabbok.

If you want to be a sports champion, you have to defeat the previous champions. The Messiah has to be the one who can wrestle the blessing Irons God so that even Satan can agree that this person deserves the blessing.

If you go the way of religion, you will be opposed by the masters of this world. Why? Who is the master of this world and the spiritual world? The master of this world is not God. Because of the Fall God cannot be the master of this world. Beginning from the individual level, the master is Satan. If we want to establish God as the master, we naturally experience opposition from the existing master of this world.

Unite, The Kingdom Of Heaven Is At Hand
March 5, 1989

Having been triumphant in Haran, Jacob needed to return to his home to face a final showdown with Esau. Unless he could triumph in that situation, no decisive victory could be won.

On the way back to his homeland, Jacob had to cross the ford of Jabbok, and there he struggled all night with an angel. That struggle stemmed from the fact that Jacobs showdown involved two families, When Jacob went to Haran he was single, but he returned co Canaan with his family.

At the same time, Esau also had his family. What was the difference between the two families? God and Jacob's family were on one side as one force, while Satan and Esau's family were another force.

Satan challenged Jacob from both directions, spiritually he had to wrestle very hard with the angel at the brook of Jabbok, all night long. Jacob thought, "You cannot stop me, because I have 21 years of hard work behind me, and now I'm going back to fulfill the final chapter of the dispensation that God has given me. I will win. Now nobody can stop me."

All during his 21 years of suffering, Jacob was with God. He felt the presence of God with him, and in difficult times God guided and comforted him. There were many trials and tests given by Laban, but every time that victory came, Jacob knew that his power came from God. He knew that he was protected by God and that he was chosen by God.

His wrestling with the angel was so vicious that the angel dislocated Jacob's hip, but even then Jacob had no intention of giving up. He hung on, struggling hard, and the angel knew he could not defeat him. At Jacob's demand he blessed Jacob.

For the first time in history, a man fought against an angel and won victory. By winning over the angel, Jacob established two conditions. First, because the defeated angel represented the spirit world, Jacob could now have dominion over the spirit world.

Secondly, because Satan is a fallen angel, Jacob now possessed a condition to win over the satanic world. When the angel gave up, he gave Jacob a blessing, and gave him a new name, Israel, which means "victorious one" Jacob truly established victory and was in a position to inherit the satanic world.

This meant that whatever Jacob's course might be, the entire spirit world would assist him because of the condition he set. He really conquered spirit world by winning over the angel. He also nullified satanic attack, because spirit world had already surrendered to him. Spiritually, the battle was won.

Children's Day 1976
November 22, 1976

Reconciliation

33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.

2 And he put the maids with their children in front, them Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.

3 He himself went on after them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

Centering on Jacob, we know what happened. When Jacob behaved as he did, bowing down before Esau, do you think his mother was very happy, or was she angry, saying, "You are Abel, the blessed one, and you should become more dignified"? No, she applauded what Jacob did.

Her husband, Jacob's father, applauded him also, saying, "You have done right." That was natural subjugation. Of course, Esau, too, felt very good. Otherwise he would have rebelled against Jacob. Esau, in Cain's position, embraced the younger brother in Abel's position. This was a historical embrace. That means the whole world changed its direction 180 degrees, just by Esau embracing Jacob.

The whole direction of history changed. The "whole world" at that time meant the "whole family. The family was the whole world. That family came to bear the name of Israel, which means victor. What did Jacob win over, and how was he victorious? He won over Cain and he won over Satan.

The Completed Testament Era and Me
February 14, 1993

The restoration of Cain and Abel was completed for the first time through the lives of Jacob and Esau. God won His first victory on earth at the moment the two brothers became one and Esau embraced Jacob. Through his unity with Jacob, Esau and his descendants also received the blessing of God.

Esau was born into Satan's position, but during the process of restoration Esau cooperated with Jacob, however unwillingly, and when Esau welcomed Jacob, the two positions were restored, and God could extend an equal blessing to Esau.

True Parents Day From the Historical Point of View
April 18, 1977

When Esau opened his arms and affectionately welcomed Jacob, they fulfilled the restitutional condition to remove the fallen nature. For the first time, the foundation of substance was laid successfully.

When Jacob and Esau succeeded in making the substantial offering, they restored through restitution the previous failures in making substantial offerings, the failures of Cain and Abet in Adam's family, and offering of Ham and Shem in Noah's family.

Then victory in the providence centered on Abraham also restored through restitution, horizontally in one family, the long vertical course of history in which God had been working to restore the foundation of substance... At last, the foundation for the Messiah was established.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3

35:10 And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So his name was called Israel.

11 And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you.

12 The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you...

13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.

14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.

15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.

God's work to lay the foundation for the Messiah, which He first tried to establish in Adam's family, had to be conducted three times because the central figures of the providence of restoration could not fulfill their portion of responsibility.

The third attempt was in Abraham's time, yet even this was prolonged when he failed in the symbolic offering. Isaac and his family inherited the will and laid the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. At last, the foundation for the Messiah was established. One would expect that the Messiah would have come on the earth at that time

However, the foundation for the Messiah also requires a social environment conducive to his coming. The foundation must make it feasible for this satanic world to be restored into God's Kingdom ruled by the Messiah. In the providence in Adam's and Noah's families, there were no other families that could possibly attack or corrupt the central family if either of these families had laid the foundation for the Messiah on the family level, the Messiah could have come without opposition.

However, by Abraham's time, fallen people had already built up satanic nations that could easily overpower Abraham's family hence, even though the foundation for the Messiah was laid at that time, it was a limited foundation, on the family level. The Messiah could not have safely come on that foundation. A foundation of a sovereign state was needed to cope with the nations of the satanic world.

Such support would have been necessary even if Abraham had not failed in the symbolic offering but had succeeded with his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, in making the substantial offering to lay the family foundation for the Messiah. It still would not have been safe for the Messiah to come until Abraham's descendants had multiplied in Canaan and established a national foundation for the Messiah.

As it was, though the descendants of Isaac had established the family foundation for the Messiah, they would leave their homeland and suffer in a foreign land for 400 years as the penalty for Abraham's mistake. Despite their suffering in Egypt, they would flourish and consolidate as a people. They would return to Canaan and build the national foundation for the Messiah as a sovereign nation prepared for the Messiah and his work.

A course of restitution had been placed upon the shoulders of Abraham's descendants due to his mistake in the symbolic offering. Jacob was to begin this course of restitution, not Isaac. Indeed, the one shouldering the major burden to walking the course of restitution is the Abel-type person who serves as the central figure of the substantial offering.

Abel in Adam family, Ham a Noah's family, Isaac in Abraham's family, and Jacob in Isaac's family carried the major burdens in walking the restitutional courses set down for their families.

Among them, Jacob was the only Abel figure who stood upon the foundation for the Messiah. Therefore, he would walk the model course for the separation of Satan, setting the pattern for the Messiah to follow at his coming.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3

Chapter Ten - Tamar And Judah

Chapter Ten - Tamar And Judah

Then Judah acknowledged them and said, "She is more righteous than I."
Genesis 38:26

Genesis 38

38:1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah,

2 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; he married her and went in to her,

3 and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.

4 Again she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.

5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. She was in Chezib when she bore him.

6 And Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar.

Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, and Judah: son married a woman whose name was "Tamar. According to Jewish tradition, if a son died without leaving sons, his brother must act as a husband to the dead brother's wife so that the dead brother's lineage would be continued.

Tamar did not have children when her husband died, and when the next brother refused to fulfill his responsibility, he died. However, the third brother was not given to Tamar when he became old enough, and Tamar saw that she had no hope to bear children.

She knew that her mission was to continue the family of her husband and Judah, his father, and she finally decided to sacrifice even her honor and prestige in order to fulfill it.

Disguising her-self as a prostitute, Tamar enticed her father-in-law to have a relationship with her. Without knowing she was his daughter-in-law. Judah consented. At that time adultery was punished by death. In order to save her life for the sake of her child, Tamar asked Judah for his signet, cord and stall as a pledge for payment, and then confiscated them.

Three months later when it became obvious that the widow Tamar was pregnant, she was brought before Judah to be judged. You can imagine Judah's honor, 'Bring her out, and let her be burned!' But she answered, "By the man to whom these belong, I am with child." and she brought out the things that Judah had given her in his pledge.

Man fell through fornication, and Tamar was one example of how God frequently used women of most unusual character in restoration. Why would God use adulterous women in the dispensation? They are in a satanic position, but if they completely deny their satanic nature when summoned by God, then they can be restored from one extreme to the opposite extreme.

God selected His champions from the most miserable situations. Tamar was a righteous woman, and though she was originally in a sinful position, she completely dedicated herself to God's mission, risking her life, honor and prestige.

Paralleling the way Eve lied to God and her husband to bring about the Fall, Tamar deceived her father-in-law and her husband to-be, the third brother of her original husband. She was in a position to reverse the position of Eve by reversing Eve's actions, but the significant thing is that she risked her life to do Gods will.

True Parents Day From the Historical Point of View
April 18, 1977

38:12 In course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died: and when Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers. He and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

13 And when Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,"

14 she put off her widow's garments, and put on a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.

15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, for she had coveted her face.

16 He went over to her at the roadside, and said, "Come, let me come into you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

The first mother, she, fell because she did not believe in God's words, so Tamar, who was to restore Eve's position, had to demonstrate absolute faith in God. She had to forget her self-esteem and pride and, furthermore, she had to determine to risk her life.

Eve's faithlessness made her abandon her father, God. Instead, she accepted Satan as her father and put him in God's position Therefore, Tamar, on the contrary had to talk directly with God. Eve was not able to be united with her father, so Tamar had to be united with her father...

In order to accomplish her mission, she risked her life. Isn't that so? She had nothing in her mind at all except the desire to accomplish God's will. Finally Tamar set up a condition to restore Eve's fallen position by walking a course totally opposite to Eve. Nobody knew this fact except God.

The Tribal Messiah
Section 3, Chapter 1

38:24 About three months later Judah was told, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot, and moreover she is with child by harlotry." And Judah said, "Bring her out. and let her be burned."

25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law "By the man to whore these belong, I am with child." And she said, "Mark, I pray you, whose these are," the signet and the cord and the staff.

26 Then Judah acknowledged them and said, "She is more righteous that I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah…" And he did not lie with her again.

27 When the time of her time came, there were twins in her, womb.

Satan sowed the seed of false love within the womb of Eve, which gave birth to evil life. Therefore, God needed to purify a mother's womb from which the heavenly Son could be born.

That purification period of separation from Satan had to begin at the time of conception and continue to age 40, so even though Jacob was victorious he did not meet that criterion. The great mother who assumed the responsibility to meet this condition was Tamar.

Tamar had married Er, the eldest son of Judah. But Er displeased God and he died. According to the custom of that time, Judah gave Tamar his second son, Onan, so that they might bear a child for Er, But Onan, knowing that Tamar's child would not be his own, spilled his semen on the ground. This was a sin in the eyes of God, for which Onan died.

Then Tamar wanted Shelah, the third son Judah, for a husband, but Judah did not give him to her. Judah thought that his two sons had died because of Tamar, so he was afraid that Shelah would die and end the family lineage.

But Tamar had the conviction that she was to carry on the lineage of the chosen people. To do that, she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, Judah, and became pregnant with twins.

At the time of birth, one of the twin sons, Zerah, stretched out his hand from the womb to be born first. But he was pulled back into the womb, and the second son, Perez, was born first, taking the position of the elder brother, thus, within the womb of Tamar, the first and second sons fought, and their reversal of position separated them from Satan.

That became the condition for restoration in the womb. Upon this condition, the Messiah could be conceived within the blood lineage of the chosen people, on the base of the nation of Israel that could stand up to the Roman Empire 2,000 years later.

The victorious foundation on the national level could then be formed in the womb of a mother free of satanic accusation, prepared for the seed of the Son of God. On this foundation, the Holy Mother Mary emerged in the mainstream of God's Providence.

View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation 
April 16, 1996

38:28 And when she was in labor; one put out a hand; and the midwife took and bound on his hand a scarlet thread, saying, "This came out first."

29 But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother carne out; and she said. "What a breach you have made for yourself?" Therefore his name was called Perez.

30 Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread upon his hand; and his name was tailed Zerah.

Tamar conceived twins. God had been waiting for that moment for 2,000 years. When the time came for her to give birth, the first son Zerah put out his hand, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread on his wrist.

A fight took place within the mother's womb, and the second son, Perez, came out first, pushing Zerah aside. This restoration, this reversal of a situation, took place within the mother's womb. The principle that Jesus was to be born of Judah's blood lineage is set up here.

The Tribal Messiah
Section 3, Chapter 1

If you can understand about Tamar, you can understand the whole Principle... The standard of victory gained in the womb of Tamar was handed down from generation to generation through the tradition of Israel, the descendants who believed in Judaism.

Why did they have to establish a foundation for the Messiah at the national level? Because there were already many nations in the satanic world. God had to establish a national standard with which to deal with them Gods side had to stand in the position of Abel on the national level. For that purpose, God guided the Israelites and helped them develop their victorious foundation on the national level.

There was another young woman who regarded the historical significance of her actions to be more important than her own dignity or her own social environment. She regarded God's will as the highest priority.

That girl was Mary. Mary maintained the standard of victory and Satan could not accuse her. So on the foundation established by man, Jesus was conceived. It was that victorious foundation which qualified Jesus to be born from God.

The Change of Blood Lineage
October 13, 1970

Chapter Eleven - Joseph

Chapter Eleven - Joseph

"Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they only hated him the more… "Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
Genesis 37:5

Sold Into Slavery

37:2-4 This is the history of the family of Jacob. Joseph being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his fathers wives; and Joseph brought an ill report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him. and could not speak peaceably to him.

37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they only hated him the more. Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

The restoration of the birthright was just carried out on the family level, and that particular family expanded to the national level years after Jacob won over Esau, Jacob and his family had to flee to Egypt, where over the generations they developed into a great tribe.

Why were Jacob and his family sent to Egypt, which was enemy territory? Since that family was given the blessing of being called Israel, all the various elements of that family had to be totally united, but that had not been done. There was still room for Satan to accuse them of not being united.

This was manifested in the fact that Jacob loved his eleventh son, Joseph, very much and the ten older brothers were jealous, Instead of thinking of Jacob's happiness or mission, they were envious of Joseph and tried to kill him, eventually selling him into slavery in Egypt.

Even though he was first a slave, Joseph became respected and loved by the Pharaoh and eventually became prime minister. When a seven-year famine struck Canaan, Jacob's family was saved by Joseph when he gave them assistance in Egypt.

Day of Victory of Heaven
October 4, 1979

The spirit of God can touch you and teach you... in dreams, visions and revelations. Also a spirit guide may take you on a guided tour and open the reality of the spirit world to you.

Since dreams are one medium that God uses to reveal Himself, some dreams may give important revelations… Over 70 percent of the revelations recorded in the Bible came through the medium of dreams.

[For instance,] a most important revelation came in the New Testament. After Mary conceived the baby Jesus, an angel appeared one night to Joseph, saying, "Joseph, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."

In the Old Testament Jacob's eleventh son, Joseph, once told his family about a dream, in which the sun, the moon and eleven stars came and bowed down to him. This mere boy vividly recalled his dream.

Later on Joseph became the prime minister of Egypt, and his father and mother, who were represented by the sun and moon in the dream, and his eleven brothers, the stars, came and hewed down to him.

If there is some vivid, unusual dream that you remembered for more than three years, I want you to know that such a dream is a revelation, the work of God.

The Will of God and Individual Perfection
February 27, 1977

In the Last Days, Jesus said, "The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven." How are we to understand this verse?

In [Joseph's] dream, the sun and moon symbolized the parents, while the stars symbolized their children. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the True Parents who came to give rebirth to humanity in place of Adam and Eve.

Therefore, in this prophecy from Matthew, the sun and moon represent Jesus and the Holy Spirit, while the stars represent the faithful believers who are their children. Elsewhere, Jesus is likened to the true light because he came as the incarnation of the Word and shone forth the light of truth. Here, the sunlight means the light of the words of Jesus, and the moonlight means the light of the Holy Spirit, who came as the Spirit of truth.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part I, Chapter 3, Section 3.2.5

37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore

24 and they took him and cast him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

25 Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their caramels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

26 Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?

27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother; our own flesh." And his brothers heeded him.

28 Then Midianite traders passed by; and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Islmaelites for twenty shekels of silver; and they took Joseph to Egypt.

Jacob's family stood upon the foundation for the Messiah which had been completed in Isaac's family. Inheriting the position of Isaac's family; they set out to complete the dispensation entrusted to Abraham by taking responsibility for Abraham's sin and embarking upon the 400-year course of restitution.

Jacob in the position of Abel, walked (he entire course of restitution for Isaac's family. In Jacob's family it was Joseph, the son of Rachel -- Jacob's wife on God's side -- who was to secure the position of Abel by entering Egypt and walking the course of restitution.

After being sold into slavery by his brothers and brought to Egypt, he rose to the office of Prime Minister of Egypt by the age of 30. Joseph witnessed the realization of a prophecy that God had given him in his dreams while he was still a child.

First, Joseph's half brothers, born of Leah Jacobs's wife on Satan's side -- entered Egypt and surrendered themselves to him. Later, all of Jacob's children entered Egypt, and finally they brought their father to Egypt. In this way, Jacob's family began the restitutional course to build a nation which would one day receive the Messiah.

Jacob, as the central figure who laid the foundation for the Messiah in Isaac's family, was responsible to redeem Abraham's foundation. He was also responsible to embark upon a restitutional course to realize on the national level the will which had been entrusted to Isaac.

Therefore, as was the case for Abraham and Isaac, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob came to be regarded as the same person with respect to God's will, even though they were three different individuals. Jacob's success meant Isaac's success, and Isaac's success meant Abraham's success.

The providence of restoration centering on Abraham, though it was extended to Isaac and Jacob, was regarded in the sight of God as having been accomplished in Abraham's own generation without any prolongation. It is written, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3.3

39:5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had, in house and field.

6 Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking.

7 And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, "Lie with me."

8 But he refused and said to his master's wife, 'Lo, having me, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand;

9 he is not greater in this house than I am: nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife; how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"

How should we conduct ourselves to be always successful and never a failure? I look at a person who is successful and I ask, "How did he win? Was it in the proper way, by maintaining right order?" If so, I am very happy to recognize his success, but if he is seen by everybody as having gained success through expedient and underhanded means, then I do not recognize that.

We have to judge ourselves whenever we succeed as to whether our principles were consistent with those of a true victor. Why is that? Success must always come through right orderliness. The universe will not allow us to succeed for long unless we conform to that law. Now we know the way to succeed all the time.

The Victorious Person and the Defeated Person
March 3. 1982

In order to reach the love of God in your daily life, the most essential thing is knowing how to conquer your body. The body has three fundamental desires. First, the body gets hungry and looks for food. Set a superior standard and demonstrate how your love of God is stronger than your body's love of food. Jesus conquered that particular desire and went through a 40-day fast. Many prophets and saints in history emphasized fasting in their life of faith.

Hunger is the worst kind of suffering and if you can forget your desperate hunger in your search for God you have made a very precious statement. Have you been longing for God more than for food? That is the real test and that is the way you should think when you fast.

Until I was 30 there was no day that t was not hungry because I deliberately went without food in order to test myself. At that time I was so hungry that if someone was eating nearby my mouth hung open and saliva drooled out even without my being aware of it.

When it gets hungry enough, the body just automatically reacts that way. You can't say you have overcome your body until you have conquered desperate hunger by the power of your love of God.

The second fundamental urge is for sleep. Can you demonstrate that your love of God is stronger than your body's desire for sleep? The second test is passed when in thinking of God, He is so real and relevant that your intense love of God conquers your urgent desire to sleep.

Throughout history all the people who seriously searched fin God led ascetic lives and always had to fight their desire to sleep. For seven years I never slept more than two hours a day. This morning I arrived at 5 am, after traveling all night. My whole life has been like that.

It is most difficult to go beyond the level of hunger and sleepiness for the love of God. Jesus had to conquer all those bodily desires. The Bible said that he fasted for 40 days, and furthermore, we can well imagine that his life was a struggle both day and night.

Jesus asked his closest disciples to stay awake and watch with him while he prayed desperately in the Garden of Gethsemane, but what happened to the disciples? They fell asleep. They could not overcome sleep, and Jesus told them that though their minds were willing their flesh was weak.

The third desire you must conquer is the urge for physical love. The worst kind of temptation for religious people always comes in the form of sex. When men pray, Satan creeps into their minds in the form of a beautiful woman.

Men and women have instinctive sexual desire, but your intense love for God should be stronger than that desire for carnal love. In this respect American young people have a great deal to overcome. The permissiveness in America has left the moral life of Americans looking like a dirty rag.

Now you understand why the major religions throughout history have always emphasized the value of celibacy: Your body is your worst enemy and it has three formidable weapons, the desire for food, the desire for sleep and the desire for physical love. You have no idea how many tears I have shed to win over these temptations.

Core of Unification
October 9, 1977

39:12 She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me... But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.

13 And when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled out of the house,

14 she called to the men of her household and said to them… See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice;

15 and when he heard that lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me, and fled and got out of the house...

The religious way of life initially demands sacrifice, requiring that you deny all your surroundings and ultimately deny yourself. This is not to destroy you but to save you and let you emerge later as a victorious person.

You must become invincible so that nothing can deter you from moving forward to the ultimate goal of meeting God and becoming totally perfected. In that commitment you will have the will power to deny everything and to continue moving forward to become a victor.

If you demonstrate the power to deny your surroundings, then ultimately another, more difficult kind of temptation will come spiritually... The worst temptations for men always come through women. A most beautiful, charming woman can make a man feel totally intoxicated, but if you annihilate that temptation then you will prove yourself a victorious man. The worst temptation for a woman usually comes in the form of a most handsome man.

This is the real test. This is God's standard for recognizing anyone as a true man or woman. When you use this criterion to evaluate the many different religions, do you conclude that they merely oscillate back and forth within the realm of death or are they really taking themselves out of that realm into resurrection?

The teachings of the most prominent religions in history have always been similar. They emphasize an individual's denial of his circumstances and his leading a celibate life in most cases, trying to conquer sexual temptation and stand on the side of God.

Christianity in particular emphasizes this in the West, while in the Orient Buddhists isolate themselves from the secular world to make themselves divine, trying to follow spiritual instead of carnal desires.

A man of religion is always going to the mountains to isolate himself. Jesus, for example, went to many lonely places, fasting and taking time for prayer and secluded meditation. That is the kind of effort needed to pass God's test and be recognized as a man of perfection.

Our Newborn Selves
November 1, 1977

39:19 When his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, "This is the way your servant treated me," his anger was kindled.

20 And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was their in prison.

There are two basic types of people who get sent to jail. One type goes against the legitimate Interests of society for selfish reasons and breaks the law. But the other type is working to destroy Satan. Such people will also wind up in prison.

This has been true throughout history. Two different types of people have been imprisoned and even executed. One was the genuine criminal and the other was the true person of God trying to expel Satan from society. Such people were always falsely accused and thus ended up in prison. History is a witness to this.

However, godly people have used imprisonment as an opportunity to cut the satanic net around this world and create a net of God's love. Even though the forces representing Satan may put a godly person in prison, they cannot handle him or digest him. They cannot destroy him, either.

If a civil government under the influence of Satan mistakenly brings a man of God to prison and that man continues to exhibit love for others in an exemplary way, what will happen? When Satan tries to condemn such a person, he has to pay the restitution...  Satan has no power to match the power of unconditional love.

This is the very strategy of God. Often in the past, God sent His beloved children into the dungeons of hell. Sometimes He even allowed Satan to kill them, but in the eternal realm, the satanic world has had in pay the price for that. In such a way, God counterattacks Satan's forces and regains the world. That has been His historical strategy.

Jesus Christ was the greatest example of this... Jesus never condemned others and told his followers instead, "Love your enemy." He forgave the Roman soldiers because he knew he was dying as a sacrifice and that eventually his love would conquer the Roman Empire.

The value of the son of God is greater than that of all the children of the fallen realm. That is the law. But God did not lose by this sacrifice. He created another realm beyond the crucifixion: the realm of resurrection.

The Wiry of the Victory of God
August 20, 1987

39:21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's care all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatever was done there, he was the doer of it;

23 the keeper of the prison paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph's care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

There are two kinds of people. One immediately fights and retaliates and ruins his whole dlay when any kind of inconvenience comes The second thinks philosophically: why did this come to me? What do I deserve? Why do I deserve this trouble? What can I expect from this? We must know that this encounter has great significance.

You know the story of Joseph, whose jealous brothers put him in a well. Later he was rescued, and he served in the nobleman's [Potiphar's] house. Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him, but he did not fall. Later on, because of that, he got to meet his brothers. This turned out to be the way of saving the Israelites. Who knows how things will work out? Somebody was working. It's not mysterious to God, only to us.

If it were not for three years imprisonment in North Korea, I would never have known what communism really is. Maybe like everyone else, I would have thought, "Oh, that is just another philosophy," and dismissed it. But by enduring three years in prison I could come to understand in minute detail the nature of communism and could decide to try to liberate people from communism, the enemy of God.

This grand principle applies even to daily life. The outcome of an innocent happening, an accident, depends upon your attitude towards it. If you live like that, your life will improve… we do have accidents. Maybe that's His will, and as a result of that we gain a different level, a higher level.

We are bound to get to a higher level if our mind is basically good. Who know what will happen in the future? If something happens, everyone may agree, it is a tragedy. But there are two ways for us to respond: either complain, or continue on contemplating what chance this offers me. Who is the wise person, the sagacious person? The wise person, like Joseph, does not complain.

November 4, 1990

HEAVEN'S STRATEGY

38:38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a man as this, in whom is the Spirit of God?"

39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are;

40 you shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only as regards the throne will I be greater than you."

41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt."

Heaven's strategy is to allow itself to be struck first, and then to use this as a condition to take something from the other side. Satan strikes first, but in the end he has to pay reparations.

Heaven teaches us to love even our enemies. In fact, Heaven ultimately requires us to love even Satan. Such love is proof that one is spiritually alive. I visited Mikhail Gorbachev and Kim II Sung in order to practice God's true love by loving my enemies.

Persecution plays into God's strategy for us to inherit all of Satanic rights to ownership, Individuals and even the entire cosmos opposed me, but this opposition only served as my opportunity to develop further. Each of us must come to know God with certainty.

God Is Our King
May 8, 2001

Sometimes you think that God wants to judge unrighteous and bad people. How do you think God will do that? Will God just use almighty power and authority and judge people? No, God, too, is thinking love is the only way He can conquer His enemy, which is evil.

Even God thinks this way. Therefore, God, like a very impotent, incapable person, loves and invests and forgets, continually for thousands of years. Love is the only way He can embrace evil. Even though we may not understand everything right away, we can, by reason and logic, understand that must be so. God must be investing and forgetting. By using true love God is carrying out this dispensation.

We have no doubt about this, do we? Do you still have reservations that God may retaliate sometimes? No, you have never seen an example of that. That is God's strategy. Here is a master. Without knowing, the servant hits the master's head. After that, what kind of feeling would the servant have towards the master?

You can imagine, right? That is what God has been doing. He has been hit first and then subjugation takes place automatically without God saying anything. Satan, on the other hand, always jumps up and strikes and then realizes it was wrong and then loses.

In World War I, World War II, and World War III (World War III was the individual war). The common point was that the one who struck first, lost. God put Reverend Moon in the position of making him available to be opposed by everybody in the world and lets him be struck. After striking, they all will be won over. All Satan's side will he brought over to God's side.

The Unification Church -- Our Pride
May 2, 1993

42:5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land, and Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them and spoke roughly unto them, and he said unto them, "Whence come ye?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."

8 And Joseph knew his brethren but they knew not him.

All of Joseph's brothers tried to kill him by throwing him into a cistern. But he was saved and sold into slavery in Egypt He went through many miserable situations. But by correctly interpreting the Pharaoh's dream, he became the prime minister of Egypt.

The Liberation of Heaven and Earth
March 3, 1976

His brothers and Father came to Egypt and humbly bowed before him, fulfilling a prophetic dream he had as a child. Based upon this providential victory, the Israelites entered Egypt and commenced a period of hardships for the purpose of severing Satan's ties.

Joseph's course foreshadowed the course that Jesus would later walk. After corning to the satanic world, Jesus would endure a path of hardships and emerge as the King of Kings at the age of 30. He was to bring all of humanity, including his forefathers, into submission, cut all their ties to the satanic world, and restore them to God's realm.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II Chapter 2, Section 2

48:17 When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephriam's head to bless Manasseh's head.

18 Joseph said to him, "No, my father this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know he too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he and his descendants wilt become a group of nations.

I myself was in the same position as David and Joseph. For that reason, no matter what persecution I faced from my brothers in Christianity, I never felt hatred toward them or sought revenge. Rather, I was patient and persevered, knowing that they would one day come to me, the way the brothers of Joseph did, and ask for help.

Joseph forgave his brothers, although forgiveness would be impossible from a purely personal point of view. He knew that they all came from the same parent, as their brother Jacob. He felt, "They are my brothers and regardless of their crime I will forgive them."

Likewise, from the personal point of view, I might feel no reason for forgiveness toward the leaders of established Christianity. But knowing that God is our common Father and I must embody His will, then I can and must forgive them.

The hope for the revival of America hinges upon the awakening of Christianity, which represents the Christianity of the world. The wealth, resources and technology of the United States should he dedicated to serving the whole world. When it shares with the rest of the world, the United States can preserve its own identity and prosperity. Such an awakening needs to come.

The Globe is Our Home
June 8, 1986

Originally the first-born is always the son of God. But from the Principle we know that restitution means the second son should be restored to the first-born position, and the first-born should be brought down to the position of second-born. If there had been no Fall, this would not be necessary.

However, Satan took the first-born, the first creation; thus God always claims the second-born and by raising him into the position of first-born God can restore the heavenly birthright. This is why there is a tradition throughout the Bible of God blessing the second-born.

When Jacob blessed Joseph's two sons, his right hand by custom was supposed to be on the head of the first-born, but he crossed his arms so that his right hand was on the second-born instead. Joseph said, "Not so, my father. This one is first-born; put your right hand upon his head."

But Jacob said, "Nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he." Satan claimed the first world, in which we live. When the Messiah comes he will bring the restored world, in the second-born position, belonging to God.

Children's Day
November 22, 1976

99:1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

2 Assemble and listen, sons Of Jacob; listen to your father Israel."

One time a Jewish man asked me, "If the Jews are the chosen people whom God loves the most, why did God allow so much suffering to fall upon them? Can you answer me?" I replied, "The answer a rather simple, but explaining it fully would require one hour. Could you give up one hour of your nine to listen?" He said he couldn't do that, so I told him maybe we would talk another time.

I want you to know that it is God's will that all religions be united into one. You know restoration takes place according to the law of indemnity, and that God's purpose is the restoration of all mankind. Some people, like Jesus, are in the position to sacrifice for the sake of the world.

The Jews as well are in a position to help God restore billions of people around the world. Their sacrifices must not remain in vain they served an important purpose in the history of God for the sake of restoring all the multitudes of people in history.

Among the religions of the world, the Jews have suffered the most because God's loved ones are always in a position to be a sacrifice. Because God allowed such suffering to come to the Jews, God expected them to be the strongest, most understanding and most united religious people.

Who shall play the central role in uniting all religions? God handpicked the Jews and trained them for that role. Their oppression was not a punishment from God, but was the same glorious sacrificial role that Jesus was given in order to complete the restoration of mankind.

Day of the Victory of Heaven
October 4, 1979

49:1 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.

Judah's tribe came to hold a very special position in the sight of God. The Cain-Abel struggle for dominion was determined in Tamar's womb. This is why Jesus Christ could be conceived only in Judah's lineage.

God always planned that Satan should have no power to claim a baby inside the mother's womb, and the act of Tamar completely, dissolved the claim of Satan from the mother's womb to maturity. It was truly a tremendous, joyful victory for God.

However, all these events were merely preparation. The true child of God's lineage was not yet conceived. After that event another 2,000 years of the history of Israel passed. Why did God have to wait for the Messiah for 2,000 more years?

God needed the foundation of a nation because the Messiah's work can only be triumphant through one sovereign nation. Not just the family, but the nation of Israel had to be formed. From the victorious foundation of the family, the formation of a tribe and a nation took 2,000 years.

Then the time was certainly ready for the advent of the Messiah. Thus the victory at the time of Jacob came through three levels: Jacob's level, Judah's level, and Tamar's level, and after 2,000 years on the national level, the substantial act of bringing in the son of God took place.

Jacob's victory represents the victory of the individual, family, and tribe, but not a nation. Once God was successful on the national level, and could actually bring His son into this world, then all the nations of the world could come into God's kingdom. That was the plan.

Children's Day
November 22, 1976